Off the back of news that Barcelona find themselves in deeper and deeper debt, and that Mallorca will not be allowed to partake in the Europa League due to their financial strains, Madrid continue on splashing cash.
Maicon and Khedira have both been heavily linked with Madrid this past week. According to reports, the only thing to be decided before signing Maicon is his salary. Khedira's contract has been agreed upon but now just needs the decision of the Stuttgart board for a transfer fee. Only thing is, the positions which these players play in are already well covered. Sergio Ramos was arguably the best right back in the World Cup, and Xabi Alonso was one of Spain's most consistent performers throughout the competition. Madrid do in fact play with a double-pivot system, more often then not in a 4-2-2-2, but that still means leaving out three of M. Diarra, L. Diarra, Gago, Alonso, or Khedira. It's not bad to have ample cover to come off the bench or to take over incase of an injury, but having some of the world's best players in the same position at the same club makes little sense. In Madrid's case it's not a matter of over-spending, as with the touch of a button Madrid could have a new loan in place to fund a new transfer.
By sporting logic, this means leaving one of the most talented, best paid players on the bench. Some say that Ramos could slot in as a central defender alongside Albiol giving Maicon a spot in the starting XI, but Ramos is so used to his adventurous runs along the right wing, that I'd find it hard to trust him to stay in the very conservative role of center defender. Now you've got your whole right side of the defense open to a quick counter attack, and that means you're leaving an often shaky Albiol and a left back in the form of Marcelo who is also likely to be found pushing up into an attacking midfielder role with the task of defending against a counter attack with some of the world's most technically gifted players. This is something Madrid can't afford to risk. Likewise if you play Khedira alongside Alonso in the holding role, you've got two deep-lying playmakers without a midfield rock like the Diarras.
Madrid's continued galactic spending is showing a lack of thought, but with the money they have access to, and their debt wiped off the board whenever any questions are asked, you could just call it thinking adventurous.
Hey nice article it would be great to see what would happen with ramos but i dont fear his skill wont work at CB as it was only when he joined Real madrid he became a RB and was very successful at CB with sevilla
ReplyDeleteThank you. He has been put in the CB role before with Sevilla and Madrid, but I liken this to putting a kid in a room full with candy and afterwards telling him not to eat it. He's been given almost absolute freedom to go as he wishes along the right flank with both Spain and Madrid (much like Dani Alves has with Barcelona), and then switching him to the very conservative role of CB. I'm sure he'd grow back into the role, but it'd take some time. Although I do like the idea in the sense it means less of Pepe, who a lot of La Liga fans don't like very much. Maybe I'm being unfair to Ramos' versatility, but I'm at least sure he'd rather have the freedom to roam then giving the responsibility to stay back.
ReplyDeleteI've always hated Real and their constant need to get the most impressive players available in every transfer window regardless of their roster at the time. I suppose Ramos is versatile enough to partly justify Maicon's buy, but I definitely agree they need to prioritise their needs and it's strange to see that Mourinho's arrival did not help with that.
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