Real Madrid set for major overhaul in the summer
Real Madrid are likely to have a lot of outgoings in the summer.
This season has been hugely disappointing for Real Madrid. Their title defence has been non-existent in La Liga with Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona taking full advantage. They were also knocked out of the Copa del Rey by La Liga minnows Leganes. The Champions League is their only chance of major silverware this season, and that isn’t assured with a tough quarter-final tie against Juventus in a repeat of the 2017 final.
Issues with playing time for some players mean that quite a few could be moving in the summer, according to AS English. Isco, Gareth Bale and Mateo Kovacic are the major names likely to leave. Although none of that is a surprise because they haven’t been consistent starters.
Selling Bale wouldn’t be a huge loss due to his injury issues and age. However, losing Isco and Kovacic would be because they are the future of the team. Isco is a creative genius while Kovacic is a brilliant versatile midfielder.
Achraf Hakimi, Dani Ceballos, Borja Mayoral, Jesus Vallejo and Marcos Llorente are the youngsters likely to leave according to reports. Mayoral and Llorente have made little impact on the first-team, so it makes sense for them to leave.
Hakimi was limited to first-team opportunities when Dani Carvajal was out with a heart issue. He showed plenty of promise, but has been rewarded with little first-team action since. Ceballos joined the club from Real Betis in the summer, but has barely been given any chances to shine while Vallejo is fourth choice centre-back.
Losing them three players hurts Real Madrid significantly in the long-term in three key areas. They all have the ability to be long-term successors to the players in them positions currently.
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Was this inevitable?
It’s true that Los Blancos do have a large squad, so it’s hard to appease everyone. They also have a lot of big egos in the team that need to be appeased. However, there have been major flaws this season in how they have approached games.
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Effective squad rotation and variation in tactical setup could have solved this. Zidane’s success as manager and his successful playing career mean that he had the necessary reputation in the squad to make these hard changes.
Zinedine Zidane has struggled to move away from his rigid approach to squad rotation which worked wonders last season. In the summer, they sold experienced players such as Pepe and James Rodriguez and brought in young prospects such as Ceballos and Theo Hernandez.
Therefore, his large-scale rotation for less important matches was ineffective this season due to the responsibility placed on these young players. This inability to rotate has left the main players fatigued for parts of the season due to the over-reliance on them.
Zidane has limited the amount of opportunities given to players such as Marco Asensio, Kovacic and Ceballos. Some players have lost his confidence as well, such as Isco. These players are too good to be on the bench because they would get in most first-teams across Europe.
The inability to spread the minutes around the squad without hindering results will hurt Real Madrid in the long-term. Zidane is at fault for this because he has been unable to implement a coherent attacking system with clear patterns of play at Real which the less experienced players could rely on. The fact that Real have a wealth of varied talent to choose from makes this even more disappointing.