Raise your hand if you’ve seen this before. Real Madrid go into the season with questionable depth. They then suffer a rash of injuries at specific positions or even lose two irreplaceable starters at the same time. And they drop points against opponents they should be beating, which then costs them the league.
Although Madridistas have been on their hands and knees for a Kylian Mbappe blockbuster transfer in the summer 2021 window, the fans have been just as eager to see signings at other positions. There are even some fans who would prefer to wait on Mbappe, sign him for free in 2022, and instead bolster the midfield and center back positions with that money.
Heading into the 2021-2022 season, Real Madrid were already without Toni Kroos and Dani Ceballos due to injuries. Kroos was one of Real’s top three players last season and the best passer in European football, while Ceballos is a depth player who was once one of LaLiga’s most promising midfielders at Real Betis.
Despite these two injuries, Real acquiesced to selling Martin Odegaard, who did not want to be a key depth player at Real Madrid. We can argue about Odegaard all day long, but this point is undisputed. Selling Odegaard hurts Real’s depth in midfield even further.
Luka Modric will miss Real Madrid’s match against Levante
On top of these three absences, Real Madrid have lost another vital player – on par with Kroos in terms of importance – in former Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric. Tests will be carried out soon, per journalist Carlos Rodriguez, to determine the extent of Modric’s adductor injury. Nevertheless, he will be out against Levante on LaLiga’s Matchday 2, noting that the Frogs have beaten the Royal Whites in back-to-back seasons.
Modric’s injury is a warning shot to Florentino Perez and the decision-makers at Valdebebas. The warning is palpable. Sit idly by and risk falling into the same exact trap as in the 2020-2021 season, wherein depth issues hurt the team’s resiliency to injuries over the course of the season and hand the title to a good-but-not-great Atletico Madrid side.
Without Modric and Kroos, this is what Real’s midfield will look like against Levante: Isco, Casemiro, and Fede Valverde. That’s not terrible, and it should be good enough to beat Levante. Valverde and Casemiro are world-class, after all. But without Kroos and Modric, there is no real midfield dictator. There are just Valverde’s surging runs. And Isco’s meandering ones. It puts a lot of pressure on Isco, a talented player struggling for form, and it’s not a fair situation.
Worse than that, though, is the situation behind them. Antonio Blanco is the lone backup. There is nobody else in midfield outside of those four with Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Dani Ceballos all injured. You could say it’s just bad luck and that Kroos and Modric will be back soon. But one, we don’t know the timeline of their recoveries. And two, injuries happen. Injuries in one position happen. And injuries in midfield? The most demanding position in football physically? You simply have to plan for those.
Real Madrid did not come into the transfer window with a comprehensive plan
Real Madrid do not have a plan. That much is clear. Their plan with Mbappe has been to hope for PSG to negotiate. Some plan, right? And their plan in midfield has been to ride Toni Kroos, Casemiro, and Luka Modric for damn near 3,000 minutes a season. That’s no plan. That is malpractice.
Maybe Real survive against Levante by the skin of their teeth, the stars come back, and all is well in Madrid. Maybe a loss to Levante is the wake-up call that leads Real to invest in an experienced, affordable, and competent player willing to be a backup so that the team does not have to start Rodrygo in midfield again like last season.
Or maybe the stubborn Perez keeps the money in his pocket, stands pat, and watches as the team’s lack of depth dooms them once more. Meanwhile, Real do not even have Mbappe scoring at the other end to cushion the blow, as he is busy thriving with PSG, all the while watching his dream club flounder without him.
I am being purposefully dramatic, but after one season of preventable heartbreak for Madridistas, I would hate to see Perez and the club fail to learn from their mistakes in 2021-2022. It’s early, but I already fear we are headed in that direction. The warning signs have been there.