Brazilian starlet making strides with Castilla

Real Madrid’s latest Brazilian promise has made some early headway with Castilla, seeing match time in two of his first three matches at the club

Vinicius Tobias was brought in by Real Madrid on loan from Shaktar Donetsk and made available to Raul’s Castilla due to the senior side having filled their non-EU quota. The right back made a short cameo from the bench in a 2-1 loss against Alcoyano a fortnight ago and managed a 20 minutes appearance against Cornella on Saturday.

At 5-0, the game had long ended as a competition when the Brazilian came on, but Vini still approached his job with a point to prove and impressed defensively as Castilla kept their first clean sheet since the end of March. Full back has been an interesting position this season. Raul has opted for a back three flanked by high flying full backs and has rotated the likes of Peter Federico, Miguel Gutierrez and Sergio Santos amongst others in and out of the two positions.

If Tobias is intent in holding his position in the team then he’ll have to show a little more attacking promise as Raul has preferred more offensive options in at full back (something reflected in Peter’s regular appearances at right wingback).

Tobias only signed to Shaktar in July, but his move to the club has been stalled by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. UEFA ruled that foreign players based in the country could leave on loan while the conflict was ongoing, hence Vinicius unplanned mid-season move to Real Madrid. The loan runs until the end of next season, at which point the teenager could be faced with another difficult choice about his future.