Mariano had been linked with an exit this summer, but the still Real Madrid player was convinced he could somehow break into the line-up again. Meanwhile, Zinedine Zidane has not given him a single start this season, confirming that the Dominican player does not fit into the coach's plan.
Despite the array of offers, Mariano decided to stay in the Santiago Bernabeu in order to fight for a spot in a team that, as it stands, seems unreachable. As Zinedine Zidane first warned both privately and publicly, the Dominican is not a part of his plans for this season's Real Madrid.
After having to give his number seven to Eden Hazard, the striker is still set on remaining in Madrid and instead declined all offers from other clubs during the transfer market, even when it could have meant he was going to play more minutes and not have his talent wasted away.
His dreams of success at Real Madrid took precedence over any kind of protagonism he could earn under any team. A reckless decision, perhaps, as the striker has been consistently left out squad call-ups and virtually all of Real Madrid's games since the season started, keeping his total game time to zero.
And it now looks like Mariano could reach even worse numbers than the last campaign, where he played a total of 19 games - only four in the starting line-up - and ended up scoring four goals. Very poor statistics for a 26-year-old who should be gearing up for the best years of his career.