Real Madrid: Can Borja Mayoral be a good backup to Karim Benzema?
By Ben Sundock
With the departures of Alvaro Morata and Mariano Diaz, Real Madrid are down to just two true strikers. Karim Benzema and Borja Mayoral. With Mayoral guaranteed to the backup since Los Blancos haven’t moved to sign another striker, it begs the question, can he be a quality backup to the Big Benz? Here are my thoughts.
Take into consideration Borja Mayoral is just 20-years-old and hasn’t been a regular starter yet in his career.
But, after going out on loan last summer at VFL Wolfsburg, the young Spanish striker should be able to at least backup Karim Benzema right? I don’t think so.
Last season in the Bundesliga, Mayoral only started three matches and featured in 16 matches a substitute, scoring just two goals in 375 totals minutes on the field. That’s not what you want from a true striker.
Borja couldn’t score and wasn’t impressive when he had the ball. He finished the year with a passing percentage just under 77% and only taking .6 shots per game. This isn’t anywhere near the numbers of last season’s backup Alvaro Morata, and is a far lower than last year’s third string striker Mariano Diaz.
It looks like Florentino Perez won’t be signing another striker option like Kylian Mbappe during this transfer window with just a week and a half remaining. Meaning, manager Zinedine Zidane is going to have to rely heavily on Borja to be able to come on and replace Karim Benzema when needed.
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Here are some problems I see with this plan. First of all, relying on a young player like Morja Mayoral to come on and start matches and appear as a substitute several times isn’t a wise decision.
Zidane is a smart manager and knows how to manage his players and his lineup. He showed that with his use of Morata as a super sub for most of the season. Mayoral of course is not anywhere near the quality of Morata.
That is where I see the biggest problem for Real Madrid this season. I was a big fan of Morata’s ability to find a way to come into a match and get a goal when the team needed one. Borja doesn’t offer that same goal scorer mentality. I think that if Los Blancos want to repeat as LaLiga champions, they are going to need to find a natural goal scorer like Morata or someone with great pace and good positional awareness like Mariano Diaz.
Mayoral is not a natural goal-scorer, he’s not a great dribbler, he’s not great positionally.
So, to answer the question of the headline, I think it’s an obvious no. While Real have Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, and Marco Asensio who can play as wingers or strikers more centrally, Madrid need another true striker option to backup Karim.
If the Big Benz is injured or picks up a red card (it’s unlikely), Zidane will have to rely on Ronaldo or Bale to play as a striker over Mayoral I think.
Borja had his chance to impress during the preseason tour, but really didn’t, scoring just one goal – a bit of a lucky one at that – in the MLS All Star Game.
Expect Cristiano to play more centrally and see Karim Benzema start nearly every league game he is fit for.
Next: Five reasons Real Madrid will repeat as La Liga champions