Raul De Tomas: “Julen wanted me to stay, but I am a winner”

Raul De Tomas is the leading light for a Rayo Vallecano team who have now won three consecutive games in La Liga. In the Friday night match vs Celta Vigo, RDT scored his first hat-trick in the primera division, bringing his total goal tally for the season up to 8 goals.

Speaking to reporters after the match, RDT was asked about his parent club: “I’m not thinking about going back to Real Madrid, it’s the truth. I could have stayed, I have said that before. Julen Lopetegui wanted me to stay, but I am a winner. My job is not to sit on the bench for the year. I know that completing like I am competing now is how to grow,” he concluded. There is a quiet arrogance about RDT and it lingers in his game as well, you could argue that mentality is essential in a striker—something that has held back others, like a Morata, who is fragile in that regard.

Of the three goals over the weekend, one goal was with his “weaker” left foot—again proving he is so good with each. Having watched him closely for 6 months now, there is no denying RDT is a very good player. He is now back on track to hit that 15 goal mark that Kiyan Sobhani and I had predicted at the start of the season. Wrongly or rightly, he likely will not get a chance at Madrid given the expected changes this summer and his desire to play, but RDT is going to have a good career. He’s a pure striker, an out and out number nine, which is a rare breed these days.