Lucas Silva
Lucas Silva has made only nine appearances for Real Madrid Getty

KEY POINTS

  • 23-year-old midfielder has failed to make any impact at the Bernabeu since his 2015 arrival.
  • Brazilian offloaded alongside Martin Odegaard who was loaned to Heerenveen in January.

Real Madrid ended another quiet transfer window with the late departure of Lucas Silva to Cruzeiro Esporte Clube on deadline day. The Brazilian midfielder agreed a loan move to his former side after failing to make an impact at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The 23-year-old joined Los Blancos in January 2015 after garnering a big reputation in his homeland. Arsenal had also been heavily linked with in his services but Real Madrid won the race after paying around £10m ($12.6m) to Cruzeiro to lure him to the Santiago Bernabeu.

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However, Silva only managed nine appearances for the La Liga giants before being sent on loan to Olympique Marseille during the 2015-2016 campaign.

The Brazilian's spell at Ligue 1 was also unsuccessful but his biggest blow came in the summer when his expected move to Sporting Portugal fell through due to a heart problem.

The player returned to training with Los Blancos in October but has been unable to play any game as Real Madrid had not registered him the first-team squad for the 2016-2017 season.

This paved the way for Los Blancos offload him to Cruzeiro on deadline day.

"Real Madrid C. F. and Cruzeiro Esporte Clube have reached an agreement for the player Lucas Silva to be loaned to the Brazilian club until 30 June 2018," the club confirmed.

Silva has expressed his delight over the agreement, hoping he can resurrect his career in his homeland.

"Cruzeiro is my home, where everything started, where my professional life started and took off. I am happy to come back and have this recognition from the fans. I hope to respond to them on the pitch, "the midfielder told the club's official website. "I have been training normally at Real Madrid. I feel really good physically. Now it's a matter of getting match fitness."

Silva's move to Cruzeiro was only the second piece of transfer business done by Real Madrid during the January window after Martin Odegaard's loan to Heerenveen. The La Liga leaders were unable to sign any new players due to a Fifa transfer embargo.