Bizarre scenes at Real Madrid as ‘injured’ defender issues denial

A somewhat bizarre story is playing out behind the scenes at La Liga giants Real Madrid on Saturday.

This comes amid confusion surrounding the fitness status of a member of the club’s defensive ranks.

The player in question? Jesús Vallejo.

For those who may have missed it, the name of stopper Vallejo took its place front and centre in the headlines in Spain’s capital earlier today.

As much came after widespread media reports pointed towards the 27-year-old as having picked up an untimely injury blow.

Fresh off an injury-ravaged season-long loan with Granada, Vallejo has since linked back up with his parent club, impressing in pre-season amid efforts to secure for himself a place in Carlo Ancelotti’s Real squad for the season ahead.

With the options at the heart of Los Blancos’ defence heavily depleted as things stand, things therefore only appeared to have gone from bad to worse upon word surfacing that Vallejo was in line for a spell on the sidelines.

Marca, and more, reported that the Spaniard had suffered a muscular problem whilst in training.

He was in turn labelled as out of the club’s upcoming pre-season tour of the USA.

Safe to say, however, that some explaining is needs to be done when it comes to the link between Real Madrid, and the press…

This comes with Vallejo himself, this evening, having moved to deny that he is injured at all.

Taking to his official ‘X’ account, the stopper posted a screenshot of an article highlighting his alleged fitness problem, accompanied by the caption:

‘This information is not correct. I am not injured and I am traveling to the US Tour.’

Conor Laird | GSFN