He was one of the worse youth players on the field and was not press resistant at all. From the little I've seen of him in the past, he probably needs another year at Castilla before he makes any attempt to move onto a higher level. If he moves onto a 1st division team next summer, it is probably a bottom feeder if we are being optimistic. I don't think Blanco is anything special, but a warm body. He has been kicking around 1st division for like 3 years now, so he is light years ahead of Martin right now.
Martin's positioning was also questionable but that is hard to judge with so many random players on the field. I agree, out of the youth players available... I don't have him highly ranked currently. He just happens to play a position in the squad with little depth.
🚨 Manchester United, Chelsea and some other Premier League clubs are interested in Joan Martínez. @marca pic.twitter.com/HrJqtJiPD5— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) August 2, 2024 🚨 At Real Madrid, they are very calm regarding Joan Martínez - they know the player is where he wants to be & they are working hard on his development. @marca pic.twitter.com/Qpber7sYnr— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) August 2, 2024
Yeah the guy looked bad to me.... and that Milan team wasn't exactly all starters even though they were further along in pre-season.
Premier League clubs including Chelsea and Manchester United are interested in signing Joan Martinez.— @marca pic.twitter.com/Za2Ppv5iaJ— Madrid Universal (@MadridUniversal) August 2, 2024 Unlucky
This could actually be a blessing in disguise. Lose out on an 18 yo only to let one of our own develop into a starter
Yup, even Barca who are excellent in promoting their own have promoted some of their best youngsters out of necessity. Hopefully we get a Nacho or Cubarsi out of Joan and Jacobo, not another Ruben(?) who started away at Sevilla in the early 2000s then got subbed 30 min later after having a disaster.
The closer we get to the season, the more convinced I become that Pérez stubborn refusal to do anything about our CB situation is going to be our downfall. Almost feels deserved in a way, finally making the signing he's been spending seven years trying to make and in the process completely ignoring another part of our roster being hollowed out. The CB situation is a borderline crisis and the guy just doesn't care at all it seems.
Club knows how Alaba's recovery is going and his return timeline than anyone guessing without information. Tchouameni was tested in the biggest games at CB last season and did good job. Camavinga is proven starting away at City, CL season etc. Disaster is coming and RM will go trophyless deservedly because 4th CB option is weak until Alaba returns!
Every year the sky is falling every year we turn out okay should we have signed a 4th cb? sure. But the club is measuring the risk and deciding we can ride this out and play it by ear. Eventually that will come bite us in the ass but it hasn’t happened and I trust management as the results prove them right
I just find there to be something very irresponsible about finally getting the guy you've wanted for years, and now that you've got him you have the opportunity to plug in the only remaining legitimate hole in the roster an decide against it. Everything about how they've handled the CB position this summer has annoyed me for reasons I don't need to spell out again. Maybe I'll feel silly about this later.
If Alaba has a set-back in recovery, there's option to look at options in January as well. We battered Girona with Carva playing CB because how superior the talent level was all over the pitch. I'd actually like Jacobo to get a chance vs bus parking lower table teams at the Bernabéu. Academy can be used for small solutions.
Carlo said something along the lines of Tchouameni practically being a CB last season and that he plays there as if that's his natural position so i feel like the club just pivoted to that. Depending on how the season develops Tchouameni might go from playing about 30% of his minutes at CB like he did last year to 50%.
We had 7 midfielders last season. With Mbappe coming in and Kroos retiring, 4-3-3 is the likely formation with Mbappe, Vini, Rodrygo upfront. Camavinga, Modric, Guler, Brahim will be rotation/bench players as things stand. Endrick and Ceballos after them.
Just because we had a successful season with an incomplete squad doesn't mean the same is gonna happen again this season. This time a year ago with Benzema entirely un-replaced following a season where we came nowhere near competing for La Liga, nobody expected us to finish with 95 points. What happened last season has zero influence on how this season will turn out.
Horrible defensive record in La Liga in 2022-23 despite having Militao, Alaba, Rudiger and Nacho. Key issue was Modric and Kroos together in midfield lacked legs especially post winter World Cup when Modric was so tired. Fede played with a knock for rest of the season due to the horrible tackle by Papu just before the WC. Bellingham, Tcho/Camavinga, Fede in midfield added so much to our defensive stability last season. Tcho did well at CB when Militao and Alaba had ACLs. Given our young midfield, Rudiger, Militao, Tcho as CB options until Alaba is back plus Mbappe, Vini, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Brahim, Guler etc as scoring options plus whatever minutes Endrick gets, we should avoid doom and gloom scenario. Now multiple terrible injuries can change everything. Hope we avoid that given almost cursed situation of 3 ACLs last season. Two Castilla kids already got ACL injuries this season.
I appreciate that. The point I made previously was that I recognise we need a defender, but also understand that we can be patient and wait for the right one to become available, even if that's next year. And the justification behind that is we have Militao and Rudiger as starters, Alaba to come back and Tchouameni who can play in that position. 1 or 2 of those gets injured, I would actually prefer to give a number of youth team players a chance instead of spending big money on yet another player.
Also just to respond on this specific point, we've won so many European titles in recent times that we can actually afford to gamble a bit this season.
We should be huge favorites to win La Liga. Barca have Araujo out for a while. Kounde playing CB would mean a hole at RB which has been toughest position to find quality in transfer market for years. They don't have a good DM while we have Camavinga as a back up option. Lewa hasn't had the legs to perform consistently for a while and turns 36 this month. Atlético might be a contender if they add Alvarez.