The usual thing is for teams to change after bad results, but Madrid will do it the other way around, after a season of great success. Circumstances have wanted it this way: Toni Kroos folded his sails at the top, and Kylian Mbappé agreed to sign now and not on the several occasions he had in the past. A goodbye and a hello that pushes Carlo Ancelotti to reformulate a team that worked well last summer in circumstances that did not seem the most favorable due to injuries and the absence of a nine pure in the squad after Benzema’s goodbye. He achieved it almost the first time, but the script for the fifteenth is no longer valid the day after writing it. The departure of the German and the arrival of the French changes many things. The two movements alter the whites’ playing pattern and force them to remain attentive to something as sensitive in a champion dressing room as the integration of a planetary star.
The long-desired Mbappé will appear in an attack that has scored 99 goals this season: 24 from Vinicius, 23 from Bellingham, 17 from Rodrygo and Joselu, 12 from Brahim and six from Güler. And that is Carletto’s challenge, to grease the incorporation of the Frenchman in a plot that has worked better than expected. If a year ago it moved in uncertainty and apparent scarcity, now the scenario is the opposite, due to the addition of the former PSG player and because even an opening act like Joselu has just finished a Champions League semi-final. In the event that no one leaves, the Italian will have eight names stepping into the area, since the list is also joined by Endrick (47.5 million, 17 years old), the latest acquisition of the Brazilian school that lands with two goals in his first four caps with the Canarinha.
The addition of Vinicius and Mbappé, on the grass and in the privacy of the dugout, should determine the success of the attacking mix. The first, a candidate as his new teammate for something as symbolic and hierarchical as the Ballon d’Or after scoring in the two Champions League finals that he has won, is no longer, nor does he want to be, just a left-footed winger with a dribble. He now also feels comfortable occupying the center of the attack, and even as nine, which could expand the range of options for the technician. “I never imagined myself there, I had a lot of difficulty and I thank Ancelotti for that,” he confessed before traveling to London. “At first, he told him that he didn’t want to, but he convinced me and made me better. Sometimes he tells me to go to the left and I don’t want to. I have evolved in a year as a player like I have never done before because I have completely changed my way of playing,” he said. He no longer feels like just a troublemaker.
Pound for pound, between the newly purchased star, the manufactured star (Vini), the surprise of the year (Bellingham), those who want more (Rodrygo and Güler), and the revaluation of secondary players, Madrid will swim ahead in abundance, a a circumstance that Carletto must marry with one of his until now non-negotiable principles: the defense-attack balance. Rodrygo has been a fixture, although in the run-up to the Champions League final, with the signing of Mbappé taken for granted, he slipped in two interviews that his future could be studied. Meanwhile, the continuity of Joselu, on loan this year, would have to be discussed by Madrid with Espanyol (they will compete in the promotion phase) because he arrived with a purchase option.
If up front Ancelotti must manage opulence, in the middle he will address Kroos’s orphanhood. His departure places Madrid in a new scenario for it in the last three decades, since the signing of Xabi Alonso in 2009. First with the San Sebastian player and then with the German, the team has managed with great results during this long period with a clear organizer in the ball exit. Now, there is no clear heir to that profile.
Bellingham, near area
As soon as the German’s withdrawal became known, Ancelotti has made no secret that this pushes him to explore other avenues. “There is no Kroos on the market. We have to replace it in another way, adapt to the characteristics of the other media. We can think that it will be a more vertical game with high-energy players. You have to see it,” he commented while preparing for the Wembley final.
Everything that Madrid has acquired or has been promoted in recent years responds to a model of a young player, very physical and with experience on the pitch: Camavinga (31 million, 21 years old), Tchouameni (80 million, 24 years old) and Valverde (five million, 25 years old). Three different midfielders from the classic director that Kroos represented. Ancelotti sees Bellingham (103 million more up to 30% in variables, 20 years) closer to the area.
The first three, each with their own nuances, have shielded the best Kroos this season, but starting in August they will have to assume more responsibilities, as the Italian coach announced. That will also imply the great leap in the generational transition of the core that Carletto has been simmering. Of the “Bermuda triangle” of Casemiro, Kroos and Modric that was found when arriving in 2021, only the Croatian remains, whose renewal announcement for another campaign is also imminent, according to the club. He could take charge of the ball delivery, although his age (39 years old in September) and the disruptive role he has played this season place him as an actor in specific moments rather than as a permanent starter in such an abrasive calendar (seven tournaments next year).
12 months ago, Ancelotti had to invent another Madrid without Benzema and with Bellingham. He boosted the Englishman’s scoring production, created the ideal ecosystem for Kroos and seduced Vinicius so that he would not be reduced to the monoculture of the left wing. On Saturday he completed an almost perfect course, but when he returns from vacation he will have the task of giving birth to another Madrid.
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