Dembele should be the first priority, not Mbappe
By Ahmed Genina
Recent rumors suggest Real Madrid are after signing Ousmane Dembele alongside Kylian Mbappe. Between both youngsters, which one matters more for Los Blancos?
Most would say that Mbappe is the clear cut winner between these two players. Analysts are already comparing the Monaco star with French legend Thierry Henry. On the other hand, despite his great potential, Dembele hasn’t had much of an impact. Part of it is due to his team not winning any trophy, or advancing far into the Champions League.
On the other hand, despite his great potential, Ousmane Dembele hasn’t had much of an impact. Part of it is due to his team not winning any trophy, or advancing far into the Champions League. Also, Dembele hasn’t had a breakout season yet, unlike Mbappe.
However, Mbappe is (currently at least) the better choice when judgment is based only on quality. A look into the transfer market and the current Real Madrid squad suggests otherwise.
Why Florentino Perez should buy Dembele first
1. Dembele is affordable, Mbappe is overpriced
With the sales and loans Real Madrid have made so far, the Dembele deal should be a piece of cake if the player and the club agree to sell. Also, Dembele’s price isn’t too much of a stretch when looking at the insane inflation of the market.
Alvaro Morata left for about €80 million. Romelu Lukaku went to Manchester United for a little less than that. Then there’s Paul Pogba, who went to Man Utd last year for about €105 million. Finally, there’s Neymar who just signed for PSG a few days ago for over double what Man U paid a year ago for Pogba.
On the other hand, Monaco is asking for €180 million for Mbappe. Obviously, that seems too much for an 18-year-old, who had one brilliant season, with two years left on his contract! Clubs won’t stop chasing Mbappe next season.
Naturally, this means his price will go down.
This would make his purchase much easier for Real. Not only that but also the move will be more sensible. That is assuming the young Frenchman performs superbly like last season.
2.Stealing more talent from Barcelona
With the astronomical amount of cash Barcelona received from PSG upon selling Neymar, the Catalan club are looking to rejuvenate their squad. Currently, they are trying to bring in Phillipe Coutinho.
However, there have been many rumors that Barca are also after signing Dembele.
Although Coutinho has been playing for some time now as a winger, he can play as a midfielder in Barca’s 4-3-3. This leaves one of the two winger spots vacant, and Dembele seems like a very good candidate to fill the gap. Furthermore, the assumed prices of the two players combined are still less than what the Catalans earned from selling Neymar. Coutinho is said to cost Barca around €120 million, while Dembele is valued at around €80 million. Obviously, this is still less than Neymar’s price of €222 million.
3. Real lacks wingers, not strikers
On paper, Zidane has four wingers and two strikers. Out of the two strikers, there is Borja Mayoral. He is very young and may not be a reliable substitute for Karim Benzema.
When it comes to wingers, Gareth Bale is injury prone. Ronaldo is mostly a striker on the pitch, and he rarely does the duties of a winger. Vazquez has a superb work rate, but he’s not a good finisher. Asensio is the next big thing and thankfully he has been doing very well so far.
In other words, Real practically has 3 strikers: Ronaldo, Benzema and Mayoral, and 3 wingers: Asensio, Bale, and Vazquez. Out of those 6, only 3 are elite and dependable throughout the season. Of course, the three I am referring to are Ronaldo, Asensio, and Benzema (even though I am one of Benzema’s critics).
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I believe Dembele is the better choice.He’s a brilliant winger and has no obvious weaknesses. Like Asensio, he’s good at both creating and scoring goals, which is what the modern winger needs to be. Sure, Mbappe can also play as a wing, but from my perspective, he needs some work before he becomes good at creating goals as much as he’s good at scoring them.
He’s a brilliant winger and has no obvious weaknesses. Like Asensio, he’s good at both creating and scoring goals, which is what the modern winger needs to be. Sure, Mbappe can also play as a wing, but from my perspective, he needs some work before he becomes good at creating goals as much as he’s good at scoring them.
Also, I doubt his defensive ability on the wings will be as good as Dembele. Dembele, despite not being as good as Vazquez in terms of defensive work rate, has potential to improve in that aspect since he is originally a winger. Mbappe on the other hand, needs some work to get used to the overall work rate of a winger before he hones his defensive ability.
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