Jese in line for chance to show Real Madrid he doesn't belong on bench

Jese Rodriguez must be wondering when he's going to get a break. After a fair number of minutes in pre-season, the 22-year-old, who lit up the Bernabeu in his breakthrough season to the extent that he was seriously considered for a place in Spain's 2014 World Cup squad, has disappeared from view. Jese started Real's opening match of the season at Sporting but he was hauled off after 55 minutes and hasn't got off the bench since.

Breaking into a first 11 featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale et al is not an easy task. But take two of those out of the picture and a Real bench-warmer can quickly gauge his worth. For Jese, that moment has arrived. Rodriguez is out for a couple of weeks yet at least and Bale picked up a muscle injury against Shakhtar that is expected to keep him out of action until after the next Champions League fixture against Malmo.

Cue a chance for Jese to remind everybody -- not least himself --  why Real were so adamant during his state of grace in the second half of the 2013-14 season that he was not for sale, at any price. A year and a half later, another canterano from the class of 2011 is the apple of Florentino Perez's eye. It seems incredible that the Real president can actually say such things without fear of rebuke, but say it he did this week when discussing a possible bid for Alvaro Morata. The player jettisoned last summer came back to bite Real where it hurts most -- the semi-finals of the Champions League, a competition that has assumed such urgency in the board room that common sense and good business practice have become four-letter words.

"We could bring him back," Perez said of Morata. "It is developing, and at the end of the season we could pay €10 million more than we sold him for." Excellent business for a club the president also said cannot possibly compete with the television cash being sprayed around the Premier League, despite benefiting from exactly the same skewed have-and-have-not state of affairs domestically since time immemorial.

And what a moment to fluff Jese's sense of worth. The Canary Islands winger has to some extent suffered from the same lack of profile as Pedro. The Spain international, who moved to Chelsea from Barcelona this summer, is one of those players beloved by managers, but barely on the radar of presidents bristling with the self-importance of Perez and Josep Maria Bartomeu. Does he shift shirts? Not really. Does he fill a key role in the squad and do so without social media outbursts and public demands for improved terms? Never mind, eh? Jese and Pedro are kindred spirits. It would be little surprise if the Real winger followed Pedro's example sooner rather than later; Rafa Benitez is lauded as a master tactician, but he has adopted a no-risk strategy in his first season at the Bernabeu, to Jese's detriment.

Playing Bale as a No. 10 is widely credited as a decision imposed upon Benitez from on high, and Cristiano Ronaldo's gradual move towards a more central role - one that was very evident against Shakhtar - is hardly the work of a tactical maverick. The Portuguese could play at left-back and he'd still score goals. For players like Ronaldo and Messi, a position is nothing more than a clumsy blot on a team sheet.

Now, though, Benitez faces a minor dilemma. With no Rodriguez or Bale to hold the No. 10 position behind Benzema, will he field Jese in the role, as he did in his first pre-season match against Roma, or play Isco there? He certainly has no shortage of options. Karim Benzema's average position in most matches is that of a No. 10 and Real possess no finer artist when it comes to dropping deep in search of the ball. Jese, who rose to prominence at Castilla on the left wing, could operate ahead of the France international. Ronaldo could otherwise be deployed as the central striker, with Benzema in the hole and the Canarian on the left, if Benitez's 4-2-3-1 is set in stone.

Admittedly it's fantasy football stuff, but it would be wonderful to watch. Real hammered Granada 9-1 last season and host the same side this weekend, before a more testing trip to San Mames. The more likely, conservative, solution Benitez will employ for both games is Jese on the right, where his qualities are not best exploited, leaving the playmaker role for Isco; the former Malaga midfielder's best position.

In any case, Jese is guaranteed a couple of starts in the absence of Rodriguez and Bale. Wherever Benitez puts him, it is a timely chance for the 22-year-old to stake his claim for a more active role in the side. As Morata has proved though, there's no harm in seeking your fortune elsewhere, except to the club that discarded you in the first place. Jese is out of contract next June. It's time for the canterano to persuade the Bernabeu bigwigs not to make the same mistake they did last summer with his Castilla counterpart.