Too many playmakers

Madrid has a mine of midfielders. Or a warehouse, however you want to look. Among those who are in the current squad and those who have been assigned to other teams, the white team is capable of putting together a full starting eleven, including goalkeeper, composed solely of attacking men without the specific role of center forward. The multiple reinforcements undertaken in that area in recent years have led to an accumulation of troops with an offensive profile.

The white radar on the market detects the signal of the midfielders with more intensity than those of other footballers with different conditions. The team has six players with these traits: Isco, Hazard, Asensio, Lucas Vázquez, Vinicius and Rodrygo. And he has loaned five others: Odegaard, Reinier, Bale, Kubo and Brahim. An imbalance that contrasts with the panorama in the engine room, where Zidane only has Casemiro, Modric, Kroos and Valverde. The German and the Uruguayan are doubtful to host Eibar on Saturday (16:15, Movistar LaLiga).

That abundance means that the French coach has more versatility in attack than in any other line in the drawing.. In defense he has doubled positions, including the contribution of the versatile Nacho and to which is added the consolidated conversion of Lucas Vázquez to the right back. The spinal cord, on the other hand, is the leanest part of the team. Any setback of the four specific players leaves a Zidane out of choice who is now exploring the possibility of fielding all four.

LaLiga Santander

* Data updated as of March 28, 2021

This imbalance means that the coach enjoys an infinite number of alternatives in front, both when choosing the names that accompany Benzema and in the option of retouching his drawing towards a 4-4-2 and playing with a man behind the two more advanced players. Sparse in changes this season, in many games Zidane's substitutions have been limited to the vanguard troops. The double change of the extremes has been a recurring option, to the point that four of them (Asensio, Vinicius, Rodrygo and Isco) have starred, in one sense or another (substituted or substituted), 80 of the 125 changes (the 64%) that the white coach has done this campaign. AND none of them are among the seven with the most minutes in the squad. The eighth, with 2,557 ', is Lucas Vázquez, who has served mainly as a winger. Asensio is ninth to an abyss (1.928 ').

Before such overbooking Madrid has no choice but to find a destination for the playmakers it has in its portfolio. Five of the nine loans are of these characteristics. Some, like Bale (31) or Odegaard (22) in search of the minutes they do not enjoy in Madrid. Others, such as Brahim (21), Kubo (19) or Reinier (19), burning stages in their training to one day settle in the first team … or be a bargaining chip.

The joint market value of the five transferred midfielders is 107 million euros, according to the specialized portal Transfermarkt. The one with the best appraisal is Odegaard, loaned last winter to Arsenal (it is the Norwegian's fourth loan since he signed for Madrid) and valued at 40 million. Bale, to whom Madrid must seek a transfer this summer if they want to make a profit before his contract ends in 2022, is valued at € 20 million. Reinier at € 18m, Kubo at € 15m and Brahim at € 14m. Options to make cash if they do not find accommodation in the dressing room and the club needs to raise money to face the desired signings of Mbappé, Haaland or the return of Cristiano…