Alfredo Di Stefano, "the blond arrow", the greatest Real madrid player of all time. The greatest of all time. RIP, you'll never be forgotten. Eterno Alfredo.
Its Lisbon, its the 24th of May, its the champions league final, its the 93rd minute, Real madrid win a corner, and as its floated in Sergio Ramos gets a big powering header snatching victory from the hands of our local rivals Atletico, and hence deflating them. We went on to win the match 4-1, winning the much obsessed "La Decima". The trophy added to the Copa del rey we won against our arch-rivals Barcelona with Ronaldo. (Remember the Bale goal?) In a way, its sad we didn't win the treble. We were poor in the league at key points and in key matches, personally we had a worse season than Barcelona in the league.
Now how do you build on a near perfect season? Well there's a reason its "near perfect" and not "perfect". We have to look at where it went wrong for us last season in the league. My first thoughts on this is that Ancelloti got it all wrong in big matches earlier on. He changed formation from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 worked but only after a while. Another area that cost us was lack of depth in midfield and in attack, this might seem strange to say for a club of Real madrid's stature but its true. Tactically "Mister" as Ancelloti is known as by the players, got it right towards the end, and he will only get better hopefully. Squad depth is something you can't get better in. You have to buy.
Now the idea for having depth is to have 2 or more quality players for each position. So judging based on our normal starting XI from last season, done deals and rumours, I'm going to show how well we can have the squad depth whilst letting go of some players.
In goal, we have 2 great keepers in Iker Casillas & Diego Lopez, sources in Spain say that Real madrid have activated the release clause of Keylor Navas, this is a fantastic signing that means one of Lopez or Casillas would leave. Ancelloti will let any or both go if they decide to. He plans to purchase Kiko Casilla if both go. If anyone should go it should be Diego Lopez. "San Iker" is a club legend and still has more to offer, and to me still among the best in the world. Kiko Casilla would be a valuable asset, he is young, would be cheap and is a castilla product. Cristiano Ronaldo praised him after a cup match for his marvellous performances against madrid all season.
In defence, we have a straight forward 1st choice and 2nd choice in every position at the back just like in goal. At Right back its Carvajal then Arbeloa (although this should be his last season), in the Centre its Ramos and Pepe then Varane & Nacho (Nacho got a new 6-year contract and he fully deserves it. He's 4th choice but doesn't complain about wanting to leave, or a higher salary, he's just grateful for being at the club). Varane should replace Pepe next season in the XI, he has a calmer head, neat tackler and better passer. At left back its Marcelo and then Coentrao. The back looks good enough, no additions should be made except there is a surprise exit.
In midfield, the 3 players consist of, one deep-lying, and 2 hard workers, who will run back and forth, while doing a good job closing down and creating chances. In the starting XI we have this in Alonso, Modric and Di Maria. From the squad of last season season, only Illaramendi fits the bill to for,a like for like replacement, as he plays the Alonso role well, although he seemed scared a lot in big matches last season. Khedira, Casmeiro, Isco are not suited to it. Khedira does the hard working bit well, but his chance creation is not up to standard. Hence, its reasonable that he that seems destined to leave, hopefully he will find a team that suits him and gets us good cash in return. Casmeiro has been sent on loan to Porto, which is good. He has the potential to fill those spaces in midfield, as he showed in the pre-season of 2013. Isco has been gradually converted into such a midfielder. Ancelloti spoke about how Isco could convert like Seedorf and in the Copa del rey final & 1st leg of the UCL semi final he performed those roles brilliantly. The less said about his time as false 9, the better. Hence, there is still 1 more space in the midfield. Toni Kroos has been bought and to be honest he came very cheap at €30m considering his world cup performances. Kroos fits the bill perfectly and he will gel seamlessly into the squad and our style of play. He can even play the deep-lying role. His arrival however has seemed to make Di maria (most assists in Europe) feel not appreciated enough. You can't blame him, he will always be behind Ronaldo, Bale, Ramos, Alonso, Marcelo & Casillas in terms of the "big boys" at the club. Its clear he his looking for a club he will be appreciated better and as much we madridistas don't want to see him go, its best he goes for his happiness. Its not fair to him and the club he we keep an unhappy player.
In attack the BBC were deadly last season, scoring 96 goals between them in all competitions, although Bale and Ronaldo were out injured at various periods of the season. But we lack the depth, we suffered for this last season, we had no quality attacking alternative for the BBC especially after Jese got injured. Morata was not just up to standard. Falcao has been making all the noises about wanting to come to Madrid in Columbia and according to reports has a verbal agreement with Monaco to let him go to Real. This is very tasty, with 71 goals in 90 appearances for Atletico over 2 years, although he has never played champions league football. However, to be honest,I have faith in Benzema and feel if he can totally cut out that laisse-affaire attitude he sometimes shows, he will be among the top 3 best forwards in the world. Ancelloti and Florentino feel the same way as they expressed the desire to sign a young forward to be an alternative. Hence the only way Falcao will end up in Madrid is either Florentino wants to show sporting strength to compete with Suarez at Barca, or he got discouraged by Benzema's performances in the knockout stages of the world cup. It however begs the question, who will be the young striker? Antoine Griezmann has been the name called and he has a €30m release clause, which is okay. The deal would make sense, financially and for the reasons he will be brought in as although he's a wide forward he scored 20 goals in 49 appearances last season, and can also play as a false 9. The problem is Monaco see him as a replacement for James.
The rumours linking James Rodriguez has been heavy after his world cup performances, especially after he said he would like to play in La liga and he prefers Real to Barca (like who doesn't?). Also its a known secret that Ronaldo is his idol. It would not be hard to convince him to come, as he has apparently agreed terms, convincing Monaco to let him go would be harder but possible as rumours suggest they are negotiating between €60 and €80 million. I only see this signing happening if Di Maria leaves with James as replacement. I don't also see Monaco selling both James Rodriguez and Falcao in the same summer. But as Roberto Carlos said on the issue "Florentino can do anything he wants". Morata's sale for €20m is unbelievable. Why Juve decided to pay that much is beyond me, and why we decided to put a €30m-€35m buy back clause is also beyond me. Jose Rodriguez should be promoted to the first team. He can play on the side of a front 3 with Jese (sadly doesn't return until November) & whoever is brought in as the alternative forward.
Personally,we needed just 2 players at the start of the transfer window, a midfielder and a forward, any other player bought should be as a result of an exit. I love the signing of Kroos, he fits us perfectly. As much as I won't mind having Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, James, Griezmann, Di maria and Falcao on the same team, it won't happen. Just 4 or 5 of those 6 players will be Real madrid players when the transfer window closes. In reality, the BBC would remain, Di maria would most likely leave for a hefty €50-€60 , James would come in as his replacement and this is okay, as James created most chances in Europe last season (85), and he has shown signs of ability to play in midfield as he sometimes tracked back to help Jao Moutinho for Monaco, learning from criticism from Claudio Ranieri . Griezmann should be purchased as the alternative forward.
Finally,we will be playing in 6 competitions this season and although it seems we are overcrowded in some areas, the amount of matches, injuries and suspensions will mean all the players would be required a lot. There are high hopes for this season, we will go for all 6 competitions, at least 4 of them should be won which must include another champions league success. The chase for "La Undecima" begins here, let's build a European dynasty, like in the days of Don Alfredo. Hala Madrid !!!!
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