After the first season without titles since the 2009/10 academic year at Real Madrid they decided to carry out a profound renovation this summer, a strategic decision that was above the continuity or not of the coach. After the traumatic departure of Zidane, Ancelotti arrives ready to assume that impulse that they seek from the offices and that was an inexcusable condition to occupy the bench. However, this impulse will not be accompanied by a flood of signings because the delicate economic situation does not allow it.
There will be new faces but they will be very few although select, with David Alaba as the first signing already executed and with the great goal in the form of a galactic reinforcement of Erling Haaland in view of the fact that the main candidate, Kylian Mbappe, is hardly going to leave this summer since Al Khelaifi has already made it clear that PSG will refuses to negotiate. Do not expect much more news in terms of transfers, because the planned disbursement for the new striker will be around 150 million and will ‘eat’ pretty much the entire budget.
Protagonism to the young
So the renovation goes through try to release illustrious veterans who are no longer counted as Bale and Isco, but above all to make better use of the young talents of the white squad, as they hold with conviction from the club. It is about putting in value the great potential of several footballers under the age of 25 such as Valverde, Vincius, Rodrygo, Militao, Odegaard, Mendy (26 years old) or Miguel Gutirrez, at the expense of what is decided regarding Brahim and Milan. In the offices they want them to have a leading role, not a secondary one. That the distribution of minutes between veterans and young people is reversed to avoid that the team arrives exhausted at the end of the season as it has happened this year.
That is why Real Madrid has looked for a technician who is committed to this commitment to undoubtedly give confidence to young people. Nobody escapes that this was one of the points of greatest wear during the Zidane stage between club and coach. The technician did not align himself with the strategic policy of the entity to bet on young talent and on many occasions he gave priority to veterans even when their state of form did not recommend it.
The Militao opportunity
In this sense, two players exemplify that line marked from the sports direction. The first is Eder Militao. The club maintains that the Brazilian represents the clearest case of a young footballer who barely had opportunities to show his talent until the epidemic of injuries that decimated Real Madrid last season forced Zidane to include him in the line-up continuously. It is surprising to see that until April 3 of this year Militao had not played three games in a row as a starter in more than a season and a half that he had been wearing white until then.
Two consecutive games in their first season, in January 2020 against Getafe (matchday 19) and Sevilla (j. 20), and another two in July against Athletic (j. 34) and Alavs (j. 35) represent all the continuity that I enjoyed. That first year he finished as the third center-back of the four in the squad, with 1,469 minutes spread over 20 games.
“Militao’s hand next year will not be a hand, I will invent something else”
From problem to solution
Militao’s numbers this year were similar in quantity (1,729 minutes in 21 games, with two goals and one assist) but much more transcendent in quality. Because since that April 3, when Ramos was still injured and Varane was added to the list of casualties, first with covid and then with an injury, The Brazilian center-back entered the starting lineup directly with Nacho on most occasions and was already indisputable in the last 14 games of the season between the League and the Champions League., who played whole. Thanks to that ‘opportunity’ he went from integrating the list of possible sales this summer to being considered a perfectly valid center-back despite his youth (23 years) and able to assume ownership if finally Sergio Ramos does not renew and Varane is transferred.
What until March was considered in the offices the ‘Militao problem’ is now perceived as the ‘Militao solution’. The difference between one case and another? That he had the opportunity in the form of injuries from his teammates to be able to demonstrate his true level. Others have not been so lucky. Reviewing the list of the players most used in the white squad last season we verify that Only two young people under 25 appear in the top ten: Mendy in sixth place (69% of total minutes played) and Vincius in tenth place (57%). That is what Real Madrid want to avoid repeating.
The Odegaard conflict
Martin Odegaard’s is a special case. After being eliminated against Manchester City in the 2019/20 Champions League, last summer Zidane insisted on recovering the boy, who was happy at Real Sociedad, with whom he had already agreed to one more loan season after becoming one of the sensations of the league. Inside Madrid they were not very in favor of the Norwegian’s return because they were afraid that at the moment of truth the French coach would not grant him too many opportunities and they preferred that it continue to grow in San Sebastian. The player’s father was of the same opinion, but Zidane insisted that he needed him to reinforce the midfield and that he would have opportunities. So I called him, convinced him and Odegaard left the Real composed and without cession to return to Madrid.
The rest is known: he played the first two league games against Real Sociedad and Betis without being fully recovered from his ankle injury and little by little he disappeared from the line-up. In January, after being a substitute again in the Super Cup and when he saw that his teammate Jovic was on loan, he exploded when he felt cheated after playing only five minutes in the last seven games and asked for a loan. He had played 367 minutes in 9 games. Zidane tried to retain him, assuring the club that in the following months he would enjoy more opportunities, but in the offices they understood that if they did not let him go to Arsenal to play, they would risk losing him when his contract ended in 2023 because he was very disappointed.
Meanwhile, Madrid ended the season with its trio of exhausted starting midfielders, with Kroos playing only one of the last eight league games between injuries, covid and above all due to extreme fatigue, the same as evidenced by Modric or Casemiro, while the game was being played. the league. This poor planning with the distribution of opportunities to young people exemplified by Militao and Odegaard is what they have proposed to correct at Real Madrid. That is where the renovation that they proclaim in the offices of the white entity passes.
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