Real Madrid Player Ratings for September: Take notice of Eden Hazard

DM Casemiro

What a horrible, horrible month for Casemiro. I cannot remember a time when I thought Casemiro played this poorly across an entire month of action. Aside from a truly standout performance against Inter in the Champions League, the usually excellent defensive midfielder has been quite poor. Since that win at the San Siro, Casemiro has been outright atrocious, and I don’t even think an out-of-position Nacho has been as bad.

Part of these struggles are on fatigue, part of them are on the system placing him out of position, and part of them are on the player himself for being careless on the ball. That’s always been an issue for Case, but Ancelotti’s setup has magnified his weaknesses and hidden his strengths. For as much as I have praised Carlo, this is an example of where he has set Real Madrid backward.

Rating: 4.5

CM Fede Valverde

That was a decent month from Fede Valverde. We’ll ignore his dismal performance at right back, because he should have never started there in the first place. With Valverde, you can always count on a lot of running, both in terms of defensive ball recoveries and in terms of transitioning attacks into the final third. I don’t want to go overboard in praising Valverde, because he still needs to influence the game more in the final third if he wants to be known as a true star in world football.

Rating: 6.0

CM Eduardo Camavinga

Eduardo Camavinga is already an important player to Real Madrid. He had a dream debut with a goal off the bench in the win over Celta Vigo and was just as instrumental in turning the match against Inter Milan, assisting the winning goal for Rodrygo Goes. Recent performances against Villarreal and Sheriff, though, have shown he still has work to do before he can become a regular starter here. But we already knew that.

Rating: 7.0

CM Luka Modric

An average month for Luka Modric, which is not a statement I am used to typing out. Like Casemiro, Modric is a member of the old guard who has both been negatively affected by mounting fatigue and by Toni Kroos’ absence. With Kroos back, Modric should have a big upswing in form in October back to his usual standard. He wasn’t bad by any means in September. He was just…well…quiet.

Rating: 6.0

AM Marco Asensio

A final rating goes to Carlo Ancelotti’s newest No. 10, Marco Asensio. He gets a high rating buoyed by a near-perfect day against Mallorca, but it is dragged down by a considerably worse performance over the last LaLiga weekend against Villarreal.

It’s the same story as usual for Asensio. Against good teams, he is a passenger. The tactical setup and opponent in the hat-trick fixture were more favorable, and it is clear that Asensio is a volatile, scheme-dependent rotation player. Meaning, he’s the kind of guy whose value you boost against the right opponents and sell off to some over-eager Premier League club in 2022.

Rating: 7.5