Sport
Fans have filled the Santiago Bernabeu twice this summer to welcome a star signing made by Real Madrid. First it was Kylian Mbappe who was presented to the Madridistas after joining as a free agent from Paris Saint-Germain. Then it was Brazilian wonderkid Endrick who performed the routine that has been performed by several Galacticos over the years.
Real Madrid won a Champions League and La Liga double last season, but have strengthened even further over the summer transfer window. On paper, their attack is now the strongest in world football with Mbappe and Endrick joining a frontline that includes Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
Matches aren’t won on paper, though, and there are some questions over how Real Madrid’s attack will actually work with so many talented forwards in their squad. How will Carlo Ancelotti remould his team to get the best out of the new players the European champions have signed over the summer?
Most difficult will be the task of squeezing Mbappe and Vinicius into the same lineup. Both players like to play off the left wing with their pace key to how they get in behind opposition defences. Indeed, Vinicius and Mbappe are very similar in the way they attack and that could cause a tactical problem.
“I see him playing up front,” Ancelotti said when asked about where he envisages Mbappe operating for Real Madrid following his much-anticipated arrival in the Spanish capital. “The front, the attack, is quite wide – the pitch is 68 metres. We have to cover these 68 metres with the players in front.”
It’s possible Ancelotti could ask Mbappe and Vinicius to operate as split strikers, but that would require one of the two to play on the right side where they are less comfortable. It would also eliminate a place in the lineup for Rodrygo who has become an integral figure for Los Blancos in his own right.
Bellingham could hold the key to making the system work. The England international was integral to Ancelotti reshaping Real Madrid after the departure of Karim Benzema and he could be the link between Mbappe and Vinicius with Bellingham capable of filling space in all areas of the attacking third.
If Mbappe and Vinicius are intent on combining down the left side, Bellingham could maintain Real Madrid’s balance by operating as a number 10 or as a versatile right winger. Ancelotti will almost certainly want to keep the fluidity and mobility that made his team so dangerous throughout last season.
Endrick and Guler are expected to be depth figures this coming season. Ancelotti was careful not to rush Guler into his team last season despite clamour from supporters for him to do so, but the Turkey international’s eye-catching performances at Euro 2024 highlighted the game-changing quality he possesses.
For any other club in Europe, Guler would surely be a first team figure, but the 19-year-old has a lot of talent ahead of him in the pecking order and might have to bide his time to truly make his breakthrough at the Santiago Bernabeu. With this in mind, Endrick will likely be utilised in a similar way. The teenage Brazilian has been signed for the future, not necessarily the present.
Ancelotti doesn’t have much of a reputation as a tactician, but the Italian has more than proved his worth as a football thinker in the way he has remoulded Real Madrid over the last 12 months. If anyone can find a role for each of Bellingham, Endrick, Guler, Mbappe, Rodrygo and Vinicius, it’s the five-times Champions League winner.
