Real Madrid: 3 former players we wish Real had going into 2021-22
Real Madrid has been home to several quality players over the last decade. Many of them were signed under Florentino Perez’s ‘Galacticos’ policy. However, Perez’s second spell as the President of Real Madrid has also seen some of these marquee players leave. As such, there are a few players whose departures were hard to endure for the fans and they are left wondering if they should have been sold/released by the club.
Of these lot of former players, which ones do you wish we still had in the squad? Here, I analyze three former Madrid players who would still be great fits in the squad and most importantly whose inclusion in the side would make sense and solve some of our problems as we move into season 2021-22.
3. ANGEL DI MARIA
Real Madrid’s right-wing has seen a lot of changes since Gareth Bale’s performances started going downhill, as a result of which he was sent away on loan to his former club Tottenham Hotspur. Since then, the right-wing hasn’t seen a permanent candidate. At times it was the young Rodrygo Goes and at other times it was Marco Asensio.
The production from the right-wing has suffered terribly, Marco Asensio registered the most number of goals with seven in the season among the mentioned candidates. His season showed us splashes of vintage brilliance and the usual falling back into the new normal for Asensio – inconsistency. Eden Hazard remained prone to injuries and couldn’t make any big mark. The best among the lot was Rodrygo whose campaign remained limited but he could lead the way with a 0.64 goal contribution per 90 minutes, according to Fbref.com.
Now that is an area on the pitch that needs serious help and my choice of a former player to improve the same could be none other than the PSG-man Angel Di Maria. Di Maria made headlines with Argentina very recently when he pulled off a perfect finish in Copa America’s final against Brazil which remained the winning goal that separated the two sides until the final whistle.
That just goes to say that Di Maria is still pretty much the player he used to be when he played in Madrid. The most important thing is he would aid production from the right-wing. Di Maria is more of a playmaker than a goal scorer which means that his inclusion would also keep Karim Benzema and the other forwards in plenty of service. His pinpoint crosses and long balls are to drool over for.
This past season alone Di Maria had a total of 19 goal contributions for club and country. 13 of them were assists and the rest six were goals which include the Copa winner. In a total of 46 appearances, he has bagged a 7.22 average match rating per WhoScored and that just substantiates that he would be one of the best former players for the club to have right now.