Alvaro Carreras: From failing to make the grade at Man Utd to Real Madrid's new big-money left-back

Some players seem destined for the top from the very start of their careers, enjoying a seamless rise from the academy of a top club into the senior team before potentially becoming the subject of a big-money transfer. Real Madrid's squad is full of players who followed that path before eventually ending up at Santiago Bernabeu, including Trent Alexander-Arnold, David Alaba and Kylian Mbappe.

Then there are the late bloomers who started out at more moderate clubs before climbing their way through the ranks of mid-level sides to the elite. Take Antonio Rudiger, who began his career with Stuttgart, ascended to Roma and later Chelsea before joining Madrid in 2022. And then there are players who start out at the biggest clubs but whose careers seem to have stalled, only for them to arrive back where they started.

And that's the story of Alvaro Carreras, who is set to complete his return to Madrid five years after leaving the club to broaden his horizons. Carreras moved to Manchester United in 2020 at the same time that Alejandro Garnacho joined from Atletico Madrid. But while Garnacho - who is more than a year younger than Carreras - thrived at Old Trafford and burst into the senior team at the age of 18, the full-back took a different route.

Carreras went out on loan to Preston North End - which he described as "going to the mud" - and then to Granada before eventually leaving United on a permanent basis for Benfica without ever playing a minute of senior competitive football. His career, however, finally took off at the Estadio da Luz, and heads around Europe were turned. As Carreras' coach, Bruno Lage, put it towards the end of last season: "When I arrived here Alvaro was seen as a failure. But now Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid want to sign him."

Real have won the battle after agreeing to pay €50 million (£43m/$58m) for the 22-year-old while sending Rafael Obrador the other way in exchange for €5m. It means Carreras has the chance to emulate Marcelo, his childhood hero, by carving out his own story as Madrid's next great left-back.