Since his arrival to the club in the early summer of 2015, right full back Danilo has been nothing short of terrible in his 30 appearances with Real Madrid. Ben Sundock takes a deeper look at why it’s time to sell Danilo and find his replacement.
Danilo has been horrendous, terrible, and any other adjective to describe bad that’s known to man. This, I think, is the best way to describe how Danilo has played since joining Real Madrid from Porto. In fact, Danilo has become more of a liability on the pitch than a beneficial player to the club. This is apparent from his recent run this month where he has scored not one, but two own goals in three games.
While this own goal against Celta may not be considered his fault, observe the own goal he had against Sevilla just about a week and a half ago where he appears to head the ball into the back of his own net:
It is impressive that in both of these cases, the own goals took place in Copa Del Rey matches and, oddly enough, Real Madrid were eliminated from the competition Wednesday by Celta Vigo losing on aggregate 4-3.
The haters are out in full force on Danilo as both Goal.com and The42.com have both called the buying of Danilo, “the biggest waste of €31.5 million” or “the worst signing in Real Madrid history.” And these statements, are not far fetched I believe.
Look at Whoscored.com and the statistical proof is there. In 12 appearances this season across three competitions, the 25 year-old from Brazil has an average match rating of 6.96, decisively lower than the regular starting right full back, Dani Carvajal, who is averaging a match rating of 7.20 making 11 more appearances this season than his back up.
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To add fuel to the fire, Carvajal has had no own goals to his name this season and has scored one goal and assisted on three. Danilo on the other hand has scored 1 goal for Real Madrid, two goals for the opponents, and assisted on one goal.
President Florentino Perez and manager Zinedine Zidane need to begin to search and scout other talent at the right back position as it looks like it’s about time to call the Danilo signing a complete and utter failure with very little benefit to either side, the club or Danilo himself.
That is clear in Transfermarter.com as the site shows that since his purchase in the summer of 2015, Danilo’s value has dropped from €31.5 million to €16 million, a drop of value of nearly 50%.
I personally wouldn’t mind Real going after a young more proven right back who has been playing in a good league for some time. I think Hector Bellerin would fit this role perfectly. The main reasons being, he is just now 21 years-old, he’s been getting regular minutes at Arsenal for about a year and a half now, and he’s Spanish, which is always a plus for Los Blancos when signing a player.
While Carvajal and Bellerin could butt heads, the competition would be good for the two players and it would only make them better. Plus, as we’ve been seeing this season, it is possible for the entire defensive line of the team to get hurt.
Whatever the higher ups at Real Madrid decided to do, they need to find a replacement for the struggling Danilo and chalk this transfer up as a failure.
"This guy can’t and shouldn’t be playing for Real Madrid any longer."