Right, to me, if you’re not going to invest in a DLP, then I would call Nico back, and bring up Chema from the academy for the last spot and have him shuttle between first team and Castilla next season.
Guler is not a great defender, but fine enough for a tempo-setter. Wirtz is industrious for an attacking mid. Jude is actually a quite good defender. Has he stated publicly that he prefers to play in the final third? Combined with Valverde, I don’t see their defensive contributions to be much different from 2017’s quad of Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, and Isco. Getting Mbappe and Vini to run is the issue, but I don’t see how any combination of midfielders can fix that.
There aren’t many great deep lying playmakers in the world right now. Rodri and Vitinha are really the only two (and you can quibble over whether they really are deep lying playmakers - I could argue that Rodri is too defensively oriented to be one, and would say that Vitinha is too dynamic to be one), and they are held by clubs that don’t feel any need to sell them. Arda looks like the only other talent around who has the potential to spray long balls like a Kroos, Xabi, Xavi, Scholes, or Pirlo; so we should prioritize developing him over getting someone on the level of a Zubimendi or Tonali.
I am super critical of the board for not addressing our defensive issues this season but I am also optimistic in some ways. I think we didn't do anything about RB because they knew they'd be getting Dani back and TAA was coming so from their perspective why spend money? I think there is a good chance we sign a CB -- they probably were expecting Alaba to be able to help more at CB but it's clear now that's not the case... And given Vallejo will be gone soon, I think we do sign someone. The position that I am most uncertain about is LB, for some reason we doubled down on Mendy despite his fitness issues.
I think it can be done but as you say the roles need to be defined, I also think you can flip that and have Wirtz as the creative force in a central mid position and have Jude ahead of him. I’ve never seen Wirtz start that deep, but to me he looks very comfortable whenever he’s dropped deep to collect and build an attack for Leverkusen. Overall he’s the one true midfield talent that’s available and stands out above the rest for me, and I’m a big fan.
............................Tibo Carvajal.......Rudiger..........Hujsen......Kerkez .............Trent............Tcho...........Fede .........................Jude ..........Mbappe................Vinicius This is probably what i expect the team to be next year ,Carvajal is not going to the bench if he is healthy and Trent obviosly is not here for Danilo role .I expect Trent to play in a righ sided midfield role /right wing role in Fedes place and Fede to be moved to the left midfield role where Kroos used to play The main difference will be the new cb/left back.....let say they are Huisen and Kerkez ofcouse it could be others
Kind of hate that the middle step is skipped and these guys are thrown into the deep end at 18 or so. It's a brutal step up.
What a stupid career move for him. You know, considering no youth players have a chance or will be given a chance.
He's apparently very tall and strong for his age, I'm very careful when that is part of the player scouting profile. You can't tell how that changes once he finds himself on the opposite end of that comparison. He might not even be playing in 5 years, feels like these moves are being reported out of sheer content mania right now.
Like i sad before, Baena could be the good answer for us , and i expect we gona go for him this transfer window.Creative , spanish 23.Only if we manage somehow to sign Wirtz. https://theanalyst.com/2025/03/alex-baena-is-spains-playmaking-anomaly
Baena, Wirtz, Nico Paz, all of these are attacking midfielders. I suggested Rodrigo Mora a while ago, he's an insane talent but hes also in the same category. We need someone with a more balanced skillset with regard to defensive and dictating skills.
Given the state of our midfield and our lack of defending. I give it a couple of games before we put Trent in midfield and away from the RB spot.
I know. The club is trying to get ahead of the market and buy them when they're "cheap", but we should loan them out then instead of considering them a reinforcement in the traditional sense of the word.
Nils Kern who covers the club for most German publications from Spain and is the face of the biggest German website about Real Madrid, said he can't see Xabi having his say in transfers but he could potentially see Xabi giving the club a list of 6 players and eventually getting 2 of them.
He'll be lucky to get 1 of them. This club buys what suits and then gives the coach and tells them to get on with it.
"The club will not overspend this summer. They believe the squad planning is as important as the economic factor" Probably years from now, we'll hear how the club has lied on their financials. It's the only way I see it. Giving Ratcliffe a run for his money.
I don't expect the club to announce they're trying to spend crazy... that would be stupid. I do hope they're saying this to temper the asking price in future negotiations and they understand well and fully we don't have the deep squad of talent they believed we did; specifically at FB, midfield and now at CB.