Real Madrid have so many talented young players, but nobody has more upside than Rodrygo Goes.
Vinicius Junior. Martin Odegaard. Takefusa Kubo. Reinier Jesus. Real Madrid have some of the world’s most talented young players, whether they are at Castilla, in the first team already, or shining out on loan. But nobody on the books has as much upside as Rodrygo Goes.
Many of our writers called Rodrygo the most underrated Real Madrid player of the 2019-2020 season, and that’s an appropriate way to describe his play this past season. Rodrygo did not look out of place in his first year at the Santiago Bernabeu, having joined for 50 million euros from Santos.
In his first game, Rodrygo scored the second-fastest debut goal in club history after No. 9 Ronaldo. And it was a beautiful solo goal, encapsulating everything that makes Rodrygo a tantalizing prospect.
Rodrygo scored a perfect hat-trick against Galatasaray in the Champions League. He had the lone assist in a woeful Champions League knockout loss to Manchester City. But above all else, he was consistent, giving it his all on the pitch despite spending most of his minutes on the right wing, which is not his ideal position.
Rodrygo’s consistency for Real Madrid stands out
What stands out to me the most about a young player is consistency in a rookie season. Rodrygo wasn’t scared of the bright lights of the Bernabeu or the pressure of the Champions League. If anything, he rose to the occasion when the spotlight was on him, showing his tactical intelligence, technical quality, and nonstop work rate both offensively and defensively.
The raw statistics are highly impressive. Rodrygo, per WhoScored.com, completed nearly 88 percent of his passes, which is just a staggering average for a wide forward – and especially so for a 19-year-old wide forward.
From the right, Rodrygo was a lethal crosser. And from the left, as we saw in Castilla or in the 2-0 win over Deportivo Alaves, he was an incisive menace. Against Alaves, Rodrygo recorded six dribbles completed, and you can only imagine what he’d do to defenses if given a consistent run of games on the left. It won’t be easy for him to play there with Eden Hazard and Vinicius Junior in the squad, but his long-term potential is as the starting left winger in Madrid.
Among regulars in the lineup, Rodrygo had the second-highest goals per 90 minutes average in all competitions last season, behind only Karim Benzema. Now that’s elite company. But what makes that statistic even more impressive, beyond the age and inexperience at Real Madrid, is the fact that he was efficiently scoring goals from the right. You know, when he had to use his weak foot often and couldn’t cut inside as he likes to. So, again, imagine his scoring upside on the left.
Rodrygo can do it all. He sees the whole pitch, his movement off the ball is impeccable, he will put in a shift defensively, and he has the skills and athleticism to leave defenders in the dust.
Three years from now, we could be talking about the hard-working, highly-skilled, versatile, and level-headed Rodrygo as one of the absolute best players in world football. And based on the way Zinedine Zidane has trusted him in his first season, it appears the manager feels the exact same way about the teenager.