A Progress Report on Real Madrid's Real Zaragoza Loanee Jesus Vallejo

Real Madrid players will soon be turning their attentions to pre-season ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, with Zinedine Zidane set to enjoy his first full year as head coach.

He couldn't have gotten off to a much better start, putting his side back in the chase for the title in La Liga and winning the UEFA Champions League, but progress never stops at the Santiago Bernabeu.

For that reason, there will be several new faces around by the time the new season kicks off, new signings being the obvious one but potentially also a handful from either Castilla—nobody will be more familiar with those talents than Zidane—or returning from loans in the '15-16 campaign included in the summer squad.

One who has caught the eye previously is teenage central defender Jesus Vallejo, signed by Real Madrid from Real Zaragoza a year ago in a €6 million deal that included youth goalkeeper Dario Ramos. So, 12 months on from Vallejo joining Real, how has the 19-year-old fared and is he potentially one who will be involved with the seniors next term?

Route to Real

Vallejo joined Zaragoza well before he even reached his teens, progressing through the youth ranks before making his debut at 17. With the side relegated to La Segunda in 2013 and unable to bounce back up since, opportunities perhaps came to Vallejo sooner than they might have done in the top flight—and he certainly made the most of them.

He played just a single season with his club before the offers came in, with Real effectively paying his release clause—€6m, though they officially paid €5m for Vallejo and €1m for Ramos—to secure his signature.

Despite having played only 21 games for the team at the time, Vallejo was made captain toward the back end of '14-15 and saw out the season, including the failed promotion play-off, as the team's skipper. It was partly this maturity and handling of responsibility that attracted Real to him, with a six-year contract indicative of the hopes the club have in his talents.

Vallejo also captained Spain's under-19s at the UEFA U19 Championships, with the team triumphing in Greece.

With Castilla in the third tier of Spanish football and Real's senior side locked down defensively with Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane and Nacho as the central options, Vallejo immediately returned to Zaragoza on loan for a further season of development.

Young talents who start fast and find easy success can be forgiven for thinking they are on a permanently upward trajectory—but football doesn't work that way. Vallejo has been unfortunate enough to find that out this season, but as a teenage defender, it's arguably better for his long-term development that he faces certain trials now and is able to overcome them while younger, resilient and more open to learning.

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Vallejo played only 20 times in La Segunda with Real Zaragoza in 15-16, a full 1,000 minutes less game time than he managed in his debut campaign.

It wasn't poor form or a change of tactics that led to him missing out but injuries.

He started on the bench and missed the first four games of the campaign but returned as captain for the fifth. It says much of his standing in the squad that he took the armband for each match he started, despite only being on loan at the club, and from late September to the end of January, the only games Vallejo missed were when he was on international duty.

Albert Celades has called up Vallejo for the Spain under-21 side this season, with the defender on the pitch three times for his nation in October and November.

The first problems appeared just into the new year, though, with Vallejo missing two months with a muscle injury and relapsing soon after his return. Marca reported at the time that Real Madrid were so concerned with the injury that they insisted he complete his rehabilitation closer to the club, and Vallejo duly sat out the remainder of the campaign.

Sat in third at the time and fighting for promotion, Zaragoza won only two of the remaining seven fixtures and missed out on even a play-off position, finishing eighth.

Ready to return?

Soon after rejoining the Aragones side, Vallejo told AS that his aim was to return to Real Madrid in the summer—this summer, in other words:

"

I see [a return to Real Madrid] as my objective for next season. It will always be there but I don’t see why I shouldn’t try to be with them next season – while understanding the challenge I am setting myself. I won’t gain anything by sitting on my laurels.

"

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With Nacho a diligent but not top-class defender, Pepe now aged 33 and Varane still not showing the kind of consistency or resilience that was hoped of him, questions have been asked of whether it is the right moment to bring Vallejo back and begin his integration into the Real Madrid side.

David Vinuesa of Libertad Digital suggested (in Spanish) that he was still lacking in experience and consistency to join the ranks at Real and that a loan move for next term made the most sense—though not to Zaragoza again if they remained in La Segunda, which they did.

Similarly, Zaragoza fan Magnus Holteberg elaborated to this writer that, while Vallejo had played well, he was at times slightly below the level of team-mate Leandro Cabrera, a 25-year-old Uruguayan who is first choice in Zaragoza's defence and earlier in his career was on the books of Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid Castilla:

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He was really high-rated before Real Madrid bought him. The Aragon media claimed he might just be an even bigger talent than Ander Herrera, one of the finest Zaragoza have developed from their cantera. He has been decent the games he has played, but he's not (yet) at the same level as his team-mates Alberto Guitian and Cabrera. It's a shame with the injuries this season and it means he hasn't been able to take the next step as a player yet.

"

Those issues are not exclusive to Vallejo as a young player and at this stage should not be cause for concern. Even maintaining consistency at the level he has already reached is, indeed, worth applauding at this stage, and his mentality and maturity are characteristics that are often pointed to.

In addition, his technical traits are obvious; an assured first touch and the confidence to pass well into midfield, often bypassing the first line of the opposition, show how his skills from early in his career as a central midfielder have been retained.

Vallejo reads the game extremely well, his positional sense is developed and he's an extremely proactive defender, always looking to step out of the back line to intercept a move before a forward takes possession in a dangerous area, rather than wait to make a challenge afterward.

Is he ready for a return to Real Madrid and challenge for a first-team spot? Probably not. But pre-season is a different matter; perform well there and he could certainly land himself a loan move in La Liga, testing his abilities even more and taking the next step to proving himself ready to move back to his parent club.

Diego Llorente, Marco Asensio and others have benefited enormously from regular game time on loan in La Liga during 2015-16, and don't be surprised if Vallejo is next in line to follow them in '16-17.

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