Is Real Madrid missing Marcos Llorente?
By Ben Sundock
Real Madrid sold Marcos Llorente to Atletico Madrid during the summer of 2019 and the CDM has played well under new boss Diego Simeone. Should Los Blancos be missing the talented midfielder?
Real Madrid was not able to realize Marcos Llorente’s full potential. When the club elected to sell the 25-year-old to rivals Atleti last summer, I was rather upset.
This, of course, was before the emergence of Federico Valverde and Casemiro’s best season with the club since being signed. So, even though Marcos was the star of Atletico’s stunning comeback win over Liverpool in the Champions League round of 16, Madridistas should not be missing Marcos Llorente one bit.
While it is a bit annoying to sell a talented player without giving him the proper minutes, it’s clear to me now that Zinedine Zidane and Florentino Perez knew they could unlock Valverde’s potential and move on without Llorente providing depth.
What I noted when Real Madrid sold the player to its little brother was that Llorente would fit into Simeone’s system perfectly. Marcos is a defensive midfielder by nature, but has the skill and mindset to join the attack and not only pass the ball with precision but score.
Read. Predicting the rotation of wide forwards in 2020-2021. light
It’s interesting that Llorente has failed to become the regular starter with his new team, adopting nearly the same role as he had with Real over the last few seasons. Atleti has deployed a 4-4-2 frequently this season which has seen Thomas Partey and Saúl Niguez deployed as the central midfielders and Marcos Llorente has only appeared when matches need to be closed out defensively.
Meanwhile, Casemiro has had arguably the best complete season of his Real Madrid career and Fede Valverde has been so good in his debut season with the first team he has pushed Luka Modric to the bench in several important matches.
The hype regarding Llorente’s potential was always littered with excuses saying had he not suffered some serious injuries or received so little playing time while Casemiro was hitting his prime he would have been a star in the Bernabeu like his dad and grandfather before him.
That, as we have now seen, is not the case.
Next. Expectations for Fede Valverde in 2020-2021. dark
Los Blancos have again come out on top of their crosstown rivals. Making €30 million in the transfer and finding a wickedly talented young player in Valverde far outweighs what Llorente could have provided had he stayed.
Mark this one down as another brilliant business move by Florentino Perez and the Real Madrid board.