Madrid started last season, in August 2023, with the complete basic package in defense: its four proven center backs (Rüdiger, Militão, Alaba and Nacho), two right backs (Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez) and two left backs (Mendy and Fran García). Eight pieces with elite experience. Fourteen months later, the payroll has been reduced almost by half following the departure of Nacho, the uncertain future of Alaba and the misfortune of Carvajal. In the middle, Militão also fell and returned. A notable decline attributable to the fatality of the broken crusaders (four in this period), and also to a transfer policy governed by containment.
In the last five years, especially, in the offices it was decided that, with some exceptions, they would only hire priority objectives, without fixes, even though the shortage of defenders was evident. A line of action that was not an obstacle to the successes of last year, but that now, after the gap opened on the right flank, is once again subjected to examination, or review, in a campaign that stretches until July for the World Cup. Clubs. LaLiga regulations would allow him to sign a free player instead of Carvajal without having to wait until the beginning of the year.
Madrid reached the last two market windows with shortages behind and in both cases it concluded long before the deadline expired that it would not move. In January, even, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed on the first day that they could sign, on January 2, that they would stay as they were. Only two pure central defenders (Rüdiger and Nacho) for the four months that still remained of Militão’s recovery, who also returned with the logical lack of rhythm of someone who has spent eight months in the infirmary (he only played 12 minutes of the qualifying rounds). Champions). There the Italian invented Tchouameni.
And last summer, when plan A, the French central defender Leny Yoro (18 years old), chose to go to United in exchange for 62 million paid to Lille, the club doubled its bet: just two pure central defenders (Rüdiger and Militão) for an indeterminate amount of time due to the situation in Alaba. This Monday, the Austrian continued his recovery from the crusader. “There is no calculation with him. He is progressing adequately, but there is no rush or pause,” club sources pointed out.
The increasingly common shortcut for the axis of the defense continues to be Tchouameni, less debated in the stands for his work at the back than in his natural pivot position. During the preseason and after Yoro’s disappointment, the club promoted the 17-year-old center back Joan Martínez, in Juvenil A the previous season, the third step of the base. But his crusader also broke in the summer. So the locker room began the new season with the defense at its limit and the only addition of Jesús Vallejo.
Kepa’s exception
With such a straight line marked by the management, Ancelotti, very aware of the work dynamics at the Bernabéu after five and a half seasons, has accepted it, he has not worn out internally, for the moment he has not complained about anything in public and has worked with what there was Isn’t it risky not to look for another center back? They asked him in August, with more than a week left to operate. “No, we have resources with the young people, as an emergency there is Tchouameni and we wait for Alaba with all the calm in the world,” defended the coach.
The only emergency move in recent years was that of Kepa, tied up in a few hours in August 2023 after Courtois’ serious injury. Those were times when faith in Lunin was at its lowest. Operations not contemplated in advance have been restricted to a minimum since the summer of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic and coinciding with the initial part of the stadium works.
The distant case of Lucas Silva
In winter, shopping has never been common. The most recent were those of the failed Reinier in 2020 (it cost 30 million; that of Granada is his fourth consecutive loan) and Brahim in 2019 (20). Two interventions that, in reality, were part of the route of recruiting young people. To find something similar to an emergency solution in the January transfer history of Florentino Pérez’s second presidency, you have to travel back to 2014-15, when he bought the Brazilian midfielder Lucas Silva for 13 million, who did not make it to 10 games. . It was Carletto’s first stage and Modric had physical problems. In 2013 he rescued goalkeeper Diego López due to Casillas’ injury and in 2011 striker Emmanuel Adebayor arrived on loan.
The highly selective acquisition policy, in winter, summer and regardless of the overdrafts that could be opened in the squad, did not affect the recent results. Now, Carvajal’s fall puts this guideline under scrutiny again. Behind Lucas Vázquez we can only see the resources of Militão (uncalled up by Brazil due to muscle discomfort), Valverde and even Rüdiger for a defense that in August was already short of troops.
