Real Madrid 23/24 – Team Analysis

After a summer filled with Mbappe rumors, Karim Benzema’s departure and both the board and the manager saying that Real Madrid’s squad is complete, Los Blancos are left without depth in defense and attack, however with a Jude Bellingham who might just become the best in the world.

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Transfers

Arrivals

Jude Bellingham	Central Midfield	20	England	Dortmund	€103.0m
Arda Guler	Attacking Midfielder	18	Turkey	Fenerbahce	€20.0m
Fran Garcia	Left Back	23	Spain	Rayo Vallecano	€5.0m
Kepa Arrizabalaga	Goalkeeper	28	Spain	Chelsea	Loan fee 1m
Joselu	Striker	33	Spain	Espanyol	Loan fee 500k
Brahim Diaz	Attacking Midfielder	23	Spain	Milan	End of loan

A few notable arrivals for Real Madrid, as they sign one of England’s most promising players, Jude Bellingham. A lot of Premier League clubs were after him, but at the end he chose Real Madrid. Arda Guler, a promising Turkish left footed attacking midfielder also chose Real Madrid. Fran Garca, Joselu and Brahim, 3 Spanish players also joined. Kepa came in on loan, due to Courtois’s injury.

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Notable departures

Karim Benzema	Centre-Forward	35	France	Al-Ittihad	Free transfer
Marco Asensio	Right Winger	27	Spain	PSG	Free transfer
Mariano Diaz	Centre-Forward	30	Dominican Rep	Sevilla FC	Free transfer
Eden Hazard	Left Winger	32	Belgium	–	Free transfer
Antonio Blanco	Defensive Midfielder	23	Spain	Alaves	€4.0m
Alvaro Odriozola	Right-Back	27	Spain	Real Sociedad	€3.0m
Jesus Vallejo	Centre-Back	26	Spain	Granada CF	Loan
Rafa Marin	Centre-Back	21	Spain	Alaves	Loan
Reinier	Attacking Midfielder	21	Brazil	Frosinone	Loan

Karim Benzema, Ballon d’or holder at the time of writing is the most notable departure. He joined Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League on a free and a huge contract. Asensio to PSG and Mariano to Sevilla both left after their contracts expired, while Eden Hazard was released. It just didn’t work out for the Belgian. Blanco and Odriozola left for small amounts, while Vallejo, Rafa Marin and Reinier left on loan.

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Squad

Manager: Carlo Ancelotti

1	GK	BEL	Thibaut Courtois
2	DF	ESP	Dani Carvajal
3	DF	BRA	Éder Militão
4	DF	AUT	David Alaba
5	MF	ENG	Jude Bellingham
6	DF	ESP	Nacho (captain)
7	FW	BRA	Vinícius Júnior
8	MF	GER	Toni Kroos
10	MF	CRO	Luka Modrić (vice-captain)
11	FW	BRA	Rodrygo
12	MF	FRA	Eduardo Camavinga
13	GK	UKR	Andriy Lunin
14	FW	ESP	Joselu (on loan from Espanyol)
15	MF	URU	Federico Valverde
17	DF	ESP	Lucas Vázquez
18	MF	FRA	Aurélien Tchouaméni
19	MF	ESP	Dani Ceballos
20	DF	ESP	Fran García
21	FW	ESP	Brahim Díaz
22	DF	GER	Antonio Rüdiger
23	DF	FRA	Ferland Mendy
24	MF	TUR	Arda Güler
25	GK	ESP	Kepa Arrizabalaga (on loan from Chelsea)

While Real Madrid has an amazing midfield depth with the likes of Bellingham(who is compared quite often to Zidane), Camavinga, Tchouameni, Valverde, Ceballos, experienced players like Kroos and Modric, plus young attacking midfielders like Arda Guler and Brahim Diaz, they clearly lack players in other departments.

While it can be said that they do have enough defenders and that Eder Militao’s injury was unlucky, the same cannot be said about the attack. Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Joselu Mato are the only true attackers in the squad, meaning Madrid’s attacking depth is non-existent. While Brahim and Arda Guler will most probably play some games in the attack, they are not true attackers, more like attacking mids.

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Possible Starting 11

With both Courtois and Eder Militao out for an extended period of time, Carlo Ancelotti had to improvise quite a lot when it comes to building his team’s standard starting 11. Kepa is the #1 keeper, Rudiger is now Alaba’s pair at centre back. Carvajal starts RB, while Fran is the starting LB for now.

We have a diamond midfield with Tchouameni as starting CDM, Camavinga and Valverde at CM, who move wide often and Bellingham is starting at CM. Vini Jr and Rodrygo start in attack.