Real Madrid boasts the best midfield in Europe with their best three in Carlos Casemiro, Toni Kroos, and Luka Modric. However, the club has tended towards signing youngsters and preparing for the future. They now have two great additions in Fede Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga to form the two of a future midfield three. Young talents are also rising up through La Fabrica in players like Sergio Arribas and Antonio Blanco.
But, it always is a good approach to keep options open. In recent years, the German Bundesliga has emerged as a manufacturer of great footballers of the future. Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho are prime examples. As such, it is always worthwhile to keep an eye on some of the freshly brewing talents. Here, I make my picks for a top five in midfield that Real Madrid should be monitoring.
5. Borussia Monchengladbach CM Florian Neuhaus
Kickstarting this list at number five is a 25-year-old German playmaker who broke out in the 2020/21 season for Borussia Monchengladbach in fine style. Florian Neuhaus has been a household name for the club’s fans for a few seasons now. And, undoubtedly, he has gathered quite the attention in the footballing community. He is a versatile midfielder who is capable of transitioning between holding and creative roles.
He is a creative presence on the pitch who does more than his fair share of contributing defensively too. This season, however, Neuhaus has been a little slow to his stride maintaining an average match rating of 6.51 in five league appearances. Last season, he was one of Monchengladbach’s best performers with 11 goal contributions, six of which he scored himself, per WhoScored.
He showed signs of what was to come in the 2019/20 and 2018/19 seasons themselves. The last few seasons have been of tremendous development for the German. He found his strong footing in tackling and intercepting and improved his reading of the game. He is someone who relies a lot on long balls and shows all the necessary qualities to improve in them. He averaged 3.4 successful long balls in 2020/21 and is going at the same rate so far this season. Quite Kroos-Esque! He could be targeted as a Kroos replacement for Real Madrid in the longer run.