Real Madrid: Four players who need a headstart this season
Here are four Real Madrid players who need to start the season on a high note.
Real Madrid will begin their La Liga title defence in a week against Real Sociedad. Zinedine Zidane and his team have already started preparations and beat Getafe in a rescheduled friendly. Some big names will miss the league game for the French manager. Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, and Gareth Bale are the ones to be already ruled out while Marco Asensio, Isco, Lucas Vazquez, and Martin Odegaard remain doubtful.
La Real seem to be struggling since the lockdown and failed to collect three points on the first matchday of the league. Los Blancos will, however, need themselves to be at their best if they are to begin their campaign with maximum points.
Zidane wouldn’t want his side to need a Fede Valverde-like impact of the last season from a particular player to bring the best out of his side. All the players would need to begin the season well, and some of them would have everyone’s eye on them.
We take a look at such players who will want a fast start to the season.
Eder Militao
When one looks and tries to contemplate what has gone wrong with Jesus Vallejo at Real Madrid, only two things come to mind – a series of injuries and a lack of playing time. While injuries are to some extent something no one has control over, it is hard to understand how one can not have enough playing time while being the third choice centre-back for a team playing in at least three competitions every season.
Eder Militao is a great prospect and did well whenever called to fill in for one of Ramos or Varane. But when reports suggest Real Madrid are targeting someone like Jules Kounde or Dayot Upamecano, the entourage of the Brazilian would want to look back at the season and think whether the small sample size of minutes was enough to leave an impression on the fans and the board.
Most importantly, the player himself would want to have the assurance that he has a place in the future. The fact that Sergio Ramos has turned 34 years old means there might be many games when Zidane would want his captain to rest and make way for someone else to partner Varane in the defence. So, minutes should never be the problem for Militao this season. The Brazilian defender would hence want to be at his best from the word go!