It was a slightly slow start to life at Real Madrid for center back Eder Militao this season after coming over from FC Porto. The Brazilian international played sparingly, but the club has assured him this is just the beginning of an illustrious career.
Real Madrid seems to have made an important decision regarding their defensive personnel. The club has a plethora of quality center backs on the payroll right now, with the likes of Militao, the defender who is equivalent to a Swiss Army knife, Nacho Fernandez, and Jesus Vallejo who remains out on loan.
According to Marca and Onefootball, the club has decided they want to keep MIlitao through the summer and will look to sell Nacho who is seeking regular minutes as he concludes his ninth season with the club.
It makes sense after all why the decision is being made to keep Militao and not Nacho. Militao has a much higher potential than the 29-year-old Spaniard.
Remember, Eder Militao has just turned 22 and this was just his second season playing in Europe. Last season in Portugal, he was dominant. He averaged a match rating of 7.63 and started 29 Liga NOS matches while playing 2,600 minutes.
The sample size from this season is too small to get an accurate judgment of how good of a player Eder truly is. After all, he has to compete with Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane for a starting spot.
Varane and the captain are two of the best defenders to ever play for Real Madrid and it makes sense that manager Zinedine Zidane would be a bit hesitant to play Militao even half as much as he did with Porto.
It’s clear that the coaching staff has faith in his and have liked his attitude in both training and on the bench.
Real Madrid’s youth approach is really starting to take shape and with Vinicius Junior, Luka Jovic, Rodrygo, and Militao primed to break out and become stars in the next few seasons, fans should be ecstatic with the board’s approach and remain confident.