Joan Martínez plays for Real Madrid’s B team, Castilla.
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The demands on any young player at Real Madrid are intense, as has been proven in the case of Joan Martínez, one of the team’s brightest young talents.
That comes as Álvaro Arbeloa, former Real Madrid captain and current coach of Real Madrid’s B-team, Castilla, hit out at his own player as he sought to motivate the 18-year-old central defender.
“Joan Martínez is a talented young player, but he has a long way to go,” Arbeloa said in his post-match press conference after a 2-0 win over Cacereño at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano. “He needs to train much harder, with greater focus and intensity. If he wants to play for Real Madrid, he needs to understand that the demands of that position are extremely high.”
The coach continued by adding that, “what he is doing now is not enough to make him a first-team player, until he realizes that, he will be a great player for Castilla, but the top flight is another story, so, we’re working on making him aware that he has to train to the max every day” .
“He has all the physical, mental, and technical qualities… but the demands are so high that what he’s doing right now isn’t enough,” he said.
The central defender has been almost ever-present for Arbeloa’s Castilla side this season, making 13 appearances for the team and scoring one goal.
Martínez’s road to recovery after a serious knee injury
In early August 2024, the teenage suffered a serious knee injury during a training session with the first team. At just 16 years of age, he had impressed during the club’s preseason tour in the United States and was poised for further progression with the first team when he sustained what soon turned out to be a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament.
After undergoing an MRI and medical evaluation, it was confirmed that Martínez required surgery and faced a period of rehabilitation which would last almost a year.
He did not return to action until preseason ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, getting his first minutes under his belt in a friendly for Castilla against Marbella and rebuilding fitness from there.
In October, he returned to training no with the first team for the first time in over 400 days as Xabi Alonso took a closer look at the defender for the first time since his arrival.
English, Italian and German clubs are tracking Joan Martínez
The criticism of Martínez comes after it emerged that a number of scouts were left disappointed after he was excluded from Real Madrid’s squad for the recent UEFA Youth League fixture against Liverpool.
Spanish newspaper Diario MARCA claims that scouts from clubs including Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and several English teams traveled to watch Martínez in action on Merseyside, but he was not among the players to travel to England.
His exclusion was owing to the Castilla fixture on the preceding Sunday, coming less than 48 hours before the 4pm kick-off against Liverpool and not allowing him sufficient recovery time, with the club not wanting to run any risks with his fitness.