This file photo taken on March 16, 2019 shows Real Madrid's Spanish defender Alvaro Odriozola as he plays the ball during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and RC Celta de Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. (GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

MADRID - Real Madrid on Wednesday loaned defender Alvaro Odriozola to German side Bayern Munich until the end of the current season.

Odriozola joins Bayern after a frustrating year and a half at the club he joined from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2018 for a fee of around 40 million euro (approximately US$45 million).

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The move has not worked out for the 24-year-old, who formed part of the Spain squad for the 2018 World Cup finals, as he made just 14 league starts in his first season at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and has played just four league matches this season and has not played since Real Madrid lost in Mallorca in October.

The loan agreement does not include an option for Bayern to make the move permanent at the end of the campaign, but with Dani Carvajal ahead of Odriozola in the Madrid pecking order, the club will almost certainly look to sell him this summer.