2017/2018 - Real Madrid Offseason Discussion

Never too early to start lol.

Players Out imo
- Pepe
- James
- Morata
- Danilo
- Coentrao

Player In Imo
- Theo Hernandez
- a backup CF
- Vallejo
- Llorente
- a CM or AM

I don't think Mbappe comes. In fact, I think he ends up at Man City tbh. He wants to play and won't risk playing time... said so himself over this NT break. Madrid would have to guarantee him a regular position and I don't think that's going to happen.

whats the reasoning behind wanting a CM or AM + Llorente?

I think first, we need to evaluate the individual efforts of this season.

Navas - plenty of mistakes this season including Juve's lone goal when he was slow to react. Hala blames this on his injury and recovery, but an injury doesn't account for mental decisions. He will be replaced by DeGea

Kiko - very good for a backup

Yáñez - although he doesn't play he is well respected by team.

Ramos - he takes a lot of criticism here, some of it deserved, but overall he is a top CB and a great leader.

Varane - he made a lot of mistakes this year, but at end of season he played extremely well earning the starter position permanently.

Pepe - other than injury, he was our best CB for much of the season. However it sure looks like he will leave and be replaced by Vallejo I would prefer he stays and delay Vallejo a year.

Nacho - best 4th CB out there and more than adequate as a backup lateral, both sides. Overall very good defensive bench strength

Marcelo - started off year poorly. Offensively he returned to his own great self and defence although always suspect was adequate late in year.

Coentrao- who? One injury ?? After another he's finished IMO. No doubt being replaced by Theo Hernandez.

Carvajal - best RB in the world right now.

Danilo - awful, simply put a very bad
purchase. There is talk he may be sold,
which I would welcome, but we do need a backup and can't rely on Nacho only.

Casemiro, Kroos, Modric - putting these together as they are the best midfield in world right now. Although all three have had some criticism and problems this season they are great together.

Isco - this really was Isco's finest season earning himself a definite role with club in future. he adds a different dimension to game that no one else can.

Kovacic - very good season. Shame really that he had to wait behind some truly great midfielders. he together with Isco and incoming Marcos Llorente is more than Adequate backup midfield.

James - although he played well in his limited play, he is truly a misfit here. He no doubt will leave.

Ronaldo - started off season very poorly
, for him, but by end of season, he was our best player and most important. He has definitely lost a step or two, but IMO he is good for 2 more seasons, if they play him mostly as a CF and give him much more rest than he is accustomed to

benzema  - very poor season for him or any decent CF. I don't agree that a couple of great moments make up for a very poor season. IMO, he should be sold now, but I suspect he will hold on for another season, hopefully as a reserve. The BB part of BBC was our weakest link all season.

Bale - just injured too much to really evaluate. Will get another chance next season, but if injuries continue, he should be dealt.

Asensio - a future star. Continually developed throughout season, beating out James and Lucas in pecking order.

Lucas - a good reserve forward. He will likely see less action next season if Bale's health improves.

morata - he disproved most of his critics, having a very good season for a backup CF. I do think he deserved more time when Benz had such a bad season. However he wants to be a starter  and likely will leave.

Marianno - our 24th player. Very limited role and will be loaned out or sold for next season. He was only added to team because of Benz season beginning injury. IMO. We should stay at 23 on team as the 24th guy is wasting his time in the stands

Zidane - has established himself as a very good coach I won't go overboard yet as some have to call him the greatest ever, as I believe he is still growing tactically, however his man management is the best we have ever seen.

Flo - I think some acknowledgment should be given to flo after all the criticism that has been levelled at him. His 2nd term is the best record ever and he deserves praise for that. They have won 13 trophies in 8 seasons, 3 CL and 2 Ligas. He went against his own nature to stand in pat with this lineup for the last 2 seasons and look how that turned out

So in conclusion, I believe the only changes for next season are what I have described above plus the arrival of Mbappe. If he doesn't come as Sports has said, then Morata will stay.

sportsczy wrote:Never too early to start lol.

Players Out imo
- Pepe
- James
- Morata
- Danilo
- Coentrao

Player In Imo
- Theo Hernandez
- a backup CF
- Vallejo
- Llorente
- a CM or AM

I don't think Mbappe comes. In fact, I think he ends up at Man City tbh. He wants to play and won't risk playing time... said so himself over this NT break. Madrid would have to guarantee him a regular position and I don't think that's going to happen.

Why Mbappe would go to City? If i were him i would stay at Monaco.

In
Theo
Marcos Llorente
Vallejo
Mbappe

Out
James
Pepe
Morata
Mariano

Im sorry but i don't want vallejo here I want a real CB

Mr Nick09 wrote:Im sorry but i don't want vallejo here I want a real CB

I too don't think he's quite ready, Nacho will be the 3rd CB, he earned that this past season.

Mr Nick09 wrote:whats the reasoning behind wanting a CM or AM + Llorente?

Modric is getting old and he's already injury prone. Casemiro seems injury prone too. Kroos is a workhorse.

I think we need a lot of cover in the middle.

Really do not like how we are ditching Pepe. He is honestly still a solid, World Class defender.

If we were to buy a CM id like Thiago. Get a WC mid and troll barca in the process.

Anyway, ins:

De Gea
Theo
Vallejo
RB
Llorente
Hazard
Mbappe

Outs:
Keylor
Cacktrao
Pepe
Danilo
James
Benzema

Considering that Varane can be classified as injury prone, not having 3 elite defenders for a change is understandably jarring. Vallejo coming seems hasty by club.

Out
Pepe
James
Morata
Coentrao
Casilla


In
- Theo Hernandez
- De Gea
- Vallejo
- Llorente
- Mbappe

That is what i can see happening at most. I don't think Danilo will get the boot tbh, and i think Perez will want to get De Gea.

Ecos Del Balon came out with a nice article about our Duodecima win and there they made the distinction that at no point did our victory seem like the end of a cycle, but rather a midpoint of something bigger to come; and that the pivotal spine of Ramos-Modric-Ronaldo is what the club should think about progressing from.

With that in mind, if Mbappe truly is a top generational talent for the future (i still need more convincing), based on everything that's been set on the table, i don't see why we would let him escape from us. If he comes here he'd have "the next big thing" and "galactico" branded all over him so it's not like he'd be ostracized from playing time and development. Whether we buy him and let him stay a year at Monaco or whatever happens, i think it's too early to say he won't be ours.

And sports, do you not rate Llorente? I can't wait to see how he works in the Casemiro role tbh. It is Kovacic who has more to prove in my eyes, because if he can't prove that he can be an Elite CM aka Modric's successor, then we're in a predicament.

Nacho is the 3rd CB TMO.

Humm signing a new CM means

Kroos-Casemiro-modric
New CM-llorente- kovacic

And then up front rotation mainly between Isco and Bale?

It's not a bad idea, we have been linked to Ceballos recently. But that means we are building a team to dominate the midfield and not the wings anymore.

It's an interesting idea but I always thought that dominating the wings were more important, obviously our fullbacks are helping in that regard but hum... something to think about

Kroos, Casemiro and Modric will get the majority of the minutes, llorente and Kovacic for back up, I honestly think having Ceballos is overkill because if worse comes to worse Isco can fill in or we can change formation to have 2 midfielders instead of 2. I'd rather have a tighter squad than upset under utilized kids, or even worse a James situation

Team is set for a couple seasons, fringe players can leave get more suitable backs up and done.

the players aren't as injury prone as some are suggesting other than bale, but injury prone is just an new excuse for excessive agenda for some new players speculation, cause some posters can't be pleased no matter what the team wins.

the club knows what its doing with signings the media and fans sure as hell don't, so naming names as usual is a waste of time, the overtop signings are slowing down unless its a must, how many young players do the club need to stockpile for people not to go transfer crazy? but I know that won't stop you guys in a week or two.

already setting yourselves up with mbappe as a must signing if morata leaves, like the club is gonna spend a 100+ mil on him just like that, I never even heard of him until now and the same is for flo and a lot of people in the club, but sure zidane like him let's spend a 100 mil, hazard here yet? Heard zidane loved him , the club is not desperate for a cf only you guys , fans stay projecting their desires onto flo, when flo himself isn't even doing the usual sweet talking, give the kid another season to see what he is made of, remember lacazette? Has he made his big move yet after that initial burst of form? No one even talks about him anymore, if mbappe flops I'm sure the first to turn on him are you lot.

Benzema should definitely leave cause imo, he is wasting is career doing so much dirty work and running,with little to no guarantee of pass, just to be viewed as weak link in the team by goal counters, while a certain ego can play like shit gets away with it cause marketing, he won enough, made history, proved the club was right to sell the choker and keep him, now move on lead a team and show your quality on full display instead of tanking criticism from morons.

They've already offered 120 mil for Mbappe chad... all over the french media. City made the 120 mil offer first and Madrid matched it. Monaco refused the offer as they want 140 AND Mbappe hasn't decided what he wants to do.

So it has nothing to do with what we or anyone else wants. It's about Madrid wanting Mbappe and whether Mbappe feels like he wants to come to Madrid now.

Madrid should so pay that 140. Or pay me the 140 and I'll handle it. Raiola style too.

sportsczy wrote:They've already offered 120 mil for Mbappe chad... all over the french media. City made the 120 mil offer first and Madrid matched it. Monaco refused the offer as they want 140 AND Mbappe hasn't decided what he wants to do.

So it has nothing to do with what we or anyone else wants. It's about Madrid wanting Mbappe and whether Mbappe feels like he wants to come to Madrid now.

RmC reported we are at 135 mil just 5 five short of the goal now lol

Also there is something contradictory in their report. No club makes an offer of 130+ mil for a player without having the ok from the player/agent. So either the player gave the ok for clubs to bid or their reports are bogus because we can't be bidding when we know the player doesn't wanna move that's dumb

@Nick....  i want us to dominate everywhere.  But if you're going to pick and choose, midfield has to be #1.  That area impacts everything.

With the midfield dominant and Varane/Ramos as CBs, the fullbacks can attack to their heart's content.  Marcelo does anyhow lol.  But it would free up Carvajal even more.

Add to that... if Mbappe replaces Benz and Ronaldo moves central, we will dominate the wings regardless. Imagine Bale and Mbappe attacking on the sides ffs. I'm fapping right now lol. Of course, that will be all of 15 games a year since Bale will be injured for the rest...

Just a thought.

But there is differencebis scheme if you wanna play with Isco or Bale though. With Isco you can have him roam the zone in front of kroos and Modric, going left to right per need. There you rely on his on his intelligence to be at the right place.

But if you play with Bale that's different you have a genuine winger that will go wide and the dynamic is different.

At the end of the day we won with both schemes, not that Bale was great in finals but it worked and we played tons of games with both scheme that worked too in la Liga or CL.

I don't know what is better I know Kroos prefers to play with Isco to flood the midfield. Right now we can do both that's why when you mentioned you wanted another AM I thought you wanted to focus on the 4 man midfield.

I want us to have the option to play with a 4 man midfield whenever we want to... with the age and injury issues of some of our CMs, Bale and even Benzema, we need more depth to maintain that choice for most of the season imo.

We were lucky enough that, for the CL Final, we had most everyone healthy so we had all our options open. I want to avoid having to count on near 100% health if possible.

The Madrid One wrote:Considering that Varane can be classified as injury prone, not having 3 elite defenders for a change is understandably jarring. Vallejo coming seems hasty by club.

Out
Pepe
James
Morata
Coentrao
Casilla


In
- Theo Hernandez
- De Gea
- Vallejo
- Llorente
- Mbappe

That is what i can see happening at most. I don't think Danilo will get the boot tbh, and i think Perez will want to get De Gea.

Ecos Del Balon came out with a nice article about our Duodecima win and there they made the distinction that at no point did our victory seem like the end of a cycle, but rather a midpoint of something bigger to come; and that the pivotal spine of Ramos-Modric-Ronaldo is what the club should think about progressing from.

With that in mind, if Mbappe truly is a top generational talent for the future (i still need more convincing), based on everything that's been set on the table, i don't see why we would let him escape from us. If he comes here he'd have "the next big thing" and "galactico" branded all over him so it's not like he'd be ostracized from playing time and development. Whether we buy him and let him stay a year at Monaco or whatever happens, i think it's too early to say he won't be ours.

And sports, do you not rate Llorente? I can't wait to see how he works in the Casemiro role tbh. It is Kovacic who has more to prove in my eyes, because if he can't prove that he can be an Elite CM aka Modric's successor, then we're in a predicament.

@MTO, no way Navas stays as backup (if DeGea comes). kiko will remain backup no matter what. other than that, I agree 100% with you.

sportsczy wrote:I want us to have the option to play with a 4 man midfield whenever we want to... with the age and injury issues of some of our CMs, Bale and even Benzema, we need more depth to maintain that choice for most of the season imo.

We were lucky enough that, for the CL Final, we had most everyone healthy so we had all our options open. I want to avoid having to count on near 100% health if possible.

I think Llorente coming in solves a lot of question, but I get what you mean, I have asked myself that question as well. We will see what Zidane does as i mentioned we are trying to sign ceballos but at the same time some of the key players in mid are never injured like Casemiro or kroos. You don't want it to be overkill and and extra mid in that role I don't like, you would need a veteran

Players and Zidane are apparently lobbying hard for Navas.

I think paying 80+ mil for a keeper is ridiculous myself although I think De Gea is a better keeper. For that money, let him stay at Man U. Navas isn't noticeably worse anyhow.