New Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui has made it clear who he wants to be a staple of his squad this coming season. After sitting down with each player who did not play in the World Cup, he has made it clear that Gareth Bale is going to be a regular. Two other players he wants to use more of than Zinedine Zidane did are Dani Ceballos and Marcos Llorente.
Despite Real Betis’ best efforts, they will not be bringing midfielder Dani Ceballos back. Betis manager, Quique Setién, has said in a couple interviews that he would love to bring Ceballos back to provide some creativity to their at times stagnant midfield.
Rightfully so, the 21-year-old who signed for Los Blancos last summer has been somewhat unhappy with his lack of minutes in every competition since he left Seville.
"“Dani is a player we have always liked and I think he can do a lot for us. I think he knows that we are always interested in good players but he is in Madrid at the moment, where maybe he has a different view of things.”"
However, after working closely with the Spanish National Team, Lopetegui will not let Dani go back to his former club. The new boss at Real Madrid said that he has told the board to refuse all offers for both the creative midfielder and defensive midfielder Marcos Llorente.
Julen has already proven after just a few days on the job that changes will be made to the squad coming this season. One of the first, and maybe the biggest, is Gareth Bale becoming the go-to man on the front line.
I was a big fan of Zinedine Zidane and he was a great boss in his two and a half years at the helm, but his inability to work in the young rotation players was a bit disappointing. It seemed at times over the course of the 2017/2018 campaign, Zizou failed to give Casemiro any time off while Llorente waited in the wings.
I can already tell that Lopetegui is going to give these young players the chance to prove themselves worthy of being regulars and that process will begin in the preseason tour of the United States.
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“Ceballos is the type of player I like,” the new Madrid manager said of Ceballos just over a year ago while still with the Spanish national team. These comments came just weeks before Dani earned himself MVP honors at the U-21 Euro tournament alongside teammates Marco Asensio, Jesús Vallejo, and Llorente.
Both of these guys certainly have the potential to be future stars in the Spanish capital, but not getting almost any play time at this stage of their career will hurt their development. It will be very interesting to see how these two perform during the friendly matches as it could determine their future with the club.
Whatever happens, these guys should at most be loaned out and brought back once they have perfect their skills more.
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