Transfer Rumours | Tactics | Who to buy/sell etc

My beef with Isco is that he holds the ball too long, he should be smarter with his passing instead.

Ceballos gets a warm welcome from me

Ceballos is too weak physically to be our midfield. so lets develop kovacic since he is already here.

We are heading towards a 4-4-2 configuration, at least a fair portion of times. Isco is the AM and rest of midfield is Kroos, Casemiro or Llorente, Modric / Ceballos (or Valverde, although my money is on Ceballos). Up front, it really depends on how Bale holds up, re injuries. IMO, his future at Madrid depends on how he does next season.

@Deez, MTO's description of Ceballos is 100% correct. He has always been a CM not an AM, much like Xavi or Thiago. By the same token, Asensio has been an AM, but has played more wing than AM in past two years. keep in mind Madrid has been after both of these guys for past three years and they are 2 of main players on this U21 team. the others interesting enough are Kepa, Vallejo, M. Llorente, Saul and Sandro. In other words, club has 3 of the top 7 players and are pursuing 2 of the remaining 4 and also have had interest in Kepa. Interesting to me is the one bright light we did have on this team, Borja Mayoral, who was the starting CF last year has dropped to 3rd behind Sandro and Williams.

Borja's development has stalled so bad. I watched him against Serbia and although you could see snippets of why he was so highly regarded he was so ineffective, never making runs into the box, never attacking balls and being more comfortable everywhere but the penalty box. He needs to go to a team where he'll start week jn week out. Malaga is a good candidate once Sandro leaves

Well said, he needs to play and i am sure there is a team in la liga that can accomodate him. He has talent but going to wolfsburg was a terrible decision, club has to learn from this.

He was touted as a better prospect than mariano but mariano is out here going to Lyon...

Getting back to Ceballos, what is he good at that would make him a good CM and not just AM? Is he good at tackling? Interceptions? Defensive positioning? Distribution/composure?

To me he looks like a physically weak player who's technique would be better served further up the pitch.

Cabellos works really hard in defence, isn't afraid to get stuck in, slide tackling left and right. His biggest qualities isn't his attacking it's his ball retention abilities and distribution. When you watch his teams he is always at the heart of everything. Guys like Kovacic are different to him because he is more comfortable playing deeper than them. I see him morw of an Isco, who isn't better in attack but may be more comfortable deeper

Shit players are going for 50mill + nowadays, and this kid has a buyout of 15mill, I say buy him and worry about playing time later. Ideally sell both Bs in the BBC, play a 451, really focus on our superior midfield and to hell with the BBC

After watching way more Betis than I would like, Ceballos really isn't the sort of CM that is fully all rounded (yet). His tackling isn't that good nor can he be physically imposing. However, his strengths truly lie in (as Hala wrote) ball retention, distribution and he has really good balance for someone "his size". And of course, his dribbling and skill with the ball would get better as time goes along...hopefully.

I personally, and speaking as an amateur here, don't see his future in the central midfield and more see him the way Iniesta turn out. Iniesta also "started off" in the holding midfield position and gradually moved higher up the pitch.

N.B not calling him the next Iniesta. Just making an example of his future position as a player.

You're wrong Doc, Iniesta started off as an AM even played as a winger (for NT) a bit. He moved back as opposed to forward as time went on. Isco is the example of Iniesta in his earlier days.

Ceballos has always been a CM, lots of same skills as Isco, but further back and has much better vision re passes. i equate him more of  a Modric type or as I said earlier Xavi or Thiago. As to his body size, he is heavier and taller than any one of those three. And as to his defensive skills, Doc, I say you haven't watched him enough. Also keep in mind he has played with a defensive mid, currently with Marcos Llorente. I'm not saying he is fully developed! That's why the purchase is to buy his rights but leave him at Betis at least another year. even then he may go on loan elsewhere depending upon his development and Modric's aging. in the interim, we are well served with Kovacic and Isco (and Asensio for that matter).

You guys seem to gave a problem with buying for the future aka Ceballos, donnarama, Vinicius, Vallejo, Asensio, even Odegaard. Nothing wrong with scooping up talent, let them develop (or not) and then see were they fit into team, or not in a couple of years.

As to money, look at Morata, sell him with buyback, buy him back to play a useful role for a year and then sell him for double the price. Perez has made profit on 90% of the players under his reign and still got useful production with the majority.

Really? I have always read from Barca fans that Iniesta started off in a deeper role. I remember him coming on early in his career and playing a deeper role too but if I am wrong, I take no responsibility for it. Totally not my fault.

Also, I never saw this "defensive skill" you mentioned at Betis (may I remind you, watching Betis because of one player Nick bigged up was not easy. They are not the smoothest team to watch). Saw the skill he clearly has but I personally didn't see anything wow-ing about his defensive side. If he has it, well, great. Madrid taking long to sign him regardless.

As for your other comment about Madrid signing for the future, where exactly you got that impression or are you still sensitive about the perceived notion we have something against young Spaniards coming? I (and everyone else) love that Madrid is preparing for the future...properly. Actually going after players that make sense.

Nothing to do with Spanish bias. That remark wasn't necessarily directed at you. We've seen posts against signings of Vinicius, Odegaard, Donnarama, Mbappe, Ceballos, etc etc.

u're not wrong doc, iniesta started in a deeper role, and futbol your florentino 90 percent transfer stat seems very shaky. we have been hitting profits of late but 90 percent? come on

The only worry is the Illaramendi syndrome... so I wouldn't really pay much attention to U21 games at all.

But I like Ceballos. I think he's a little light to play the deep role as we need it (i.e. Casemiro). As long as we play 3 strikers, he'll need to be one of the more advanced CMs. Worth a shot. Not expensive.

And with Zidane, he will get a look, which is important.

Interesting tidbit for a French reporter who is VERY close to Monaco and Mbappe.

It's Madrid or Monaco. Nobody else. Monaco are behind right now but he's given them the courtesy of waiting for their mercato to finish before deciding. They will get the last chance to sell him.

And he actually doesn't give a damn if Bale or any of the BBC get moved. He thinks he's better. All he asks is for an equal opportunity to beat any of those guys out.... including CR.

Doesn't lack confidence lol.

Unless he literally shits the bed, Mbappe is gonna replace one of them. Young man way too talented to be massaging the bench.

You know Sports, Illarramendi is back playing well. He played in place of Buquets a few weeks ago and looked good. Seems his problems were all about lack of confidence.

Keep in mind re Ceballos, the deal proposed is to keep him at Betis (or elsewhere) for a year or more. This is a future deal. Flo has been at this for last three summers with Betis not agreeing. Apparently this year Betis are agreeable.

If Mbappe is willing to do that, honestly I think he will get it. With Bale constantly injured, Benzema needing competition to keep the fire in his belly, and Ronaldo getting older there should be enough opportunity for him

illarramendi is back to playing well because he is in a smaller club with no competition and he is"comfortable". He was never a bad player, but he came to Madrid, and he could not play up to the level we were expecting.

Ceballos is a classic interior in a 433, would do well next to a DM, which he is clearly not.

As for Ceballos- 15m is nothing these days, totally worth it. IMO he's not anywhere near ready for RM, so if he is being loaned back to Betis for 1-2 years (hopefully 2), then there could be a chance at that point. He has a lot of developing to do, and bulking up please

The mercato is doing mercato stuff, giving and taking.

This club strategy with regards to the GK keeps evolving week to week, I wouldn't be surprised if we end the mercato with De Gea lol

Ceballos. What is happening? We were going to sneaky sign him but he killed it in the euros and now everyone want him. We barely have room for him if you consider that Modric, Kroos, Casemiro, Llorente, kovacic and Isco are the core 6 in midfield. If we count Isco as part of the attacking 3 then fine he might have room, but I am hotbox convinced we need him, however great he is.

I am kinda hoping the report about us willing to move Bale if Mbappe joins is almost too good to be true. Isco is good enough rob start with CR +Benzema/Mbappe. This would be a perfect move with Asensio and Vasquez giving us solutions wide.

Cristiano/Lucas-Benzema/Mbappe-Isco/Asensio
Kroos/Ceballos-Casemiro/Llorente-Modric/Kovacic

I would run this

I don't know if that's attractive to Ceballos. If he wants first team football he seems much more likely to get it at Barca considering Iniesta is on his last leg.

He looks more like a Barca player to boots. Plus no one has talked about his bad mouth and off field antics. I am not sure I would be willing to take a chance on waiting for him to grow up.

The heck is Real Madrid doing this transfer window? Morata has asked to leave and we don't need Hames. Why haven't we shipped these two out yet?

If we actually serious about M'bappe, we gonna lose him to PSG at this rate. Amazed those two are still here.
We got a real problem in M'bappe's dad. Trying to push M'bappe towards PSG. how annoying.

this has been a shitty summer so far, I was hoping morata, james and bale was sold already and we get at least one of dembele or mbappe but nothing is happening and perez is wasting time with morata, anything over 60m is a win ffs.