Real Madrid: What will help Eduardo Camavinga’s development the most

Real Madrid have one of the most talented midfielders in the world in Eduardo Camavinga. The 18-year-old summer signing from Rennes did not need to wait to show his future superstardom to the Santiago Bernabeu, scoring in his debut off the bench. And it would not be the last time Camavinga would change the game from the bench, as his game-winning assist against Inter Milan testifies. 

Camavinga suffered a foot injury in Real’s devastating 2-1 loss to Espanyol. The French midfielder was subbed after 46 minutes, as the injury occurred early in the second half when an Espanyol player, who was booked for the late challenge, stepped on his foot.

So it may be some time before we see significant minutes for Camavinga, though he could play a role off the bench in El Clasico. Now that Toni Kroos is back from injury and at his best and both Luka Modric and Casemiro have followed by rebounding their forms at Shakhtar, Camavinga is back to being fifth in the pecking order behind that veteran trio and Fede Valverde.

For Camavinga, it will be important to develop confidence and consistency in conjunction, and this can be done by Carlo Ancelotti finding a specific role for the French youth international. Real Madrid have settled back into a 4-3-3, and they looked more balanced in their 5-0 victory this week in the Champions League.

Eduardo Camavinga needs a specific role

Camavinga played as a wide midfielder in the loss to Espanyol, and that clearly did not suit him. He has mostly been making cameo appearances off the bench, with his starts being a 60-minute appearance in a 6-1 win over Mallorca and a 90-minute performance in a tough-to-swallow 2-1 Champions League loss against Sheriff.

The bench cameos will likely be a continuing story for the 18-year-old center mid, but he should absolutely get starts against favorable opponents. Ancelotti needs to decide if he wants to primarily play Camavinga as a wide ball-carrying midfielder or as a defensive midfielder in a double-pivot…or even the Casemiro role. And then he needs to stick with a decision for a significant chunk of time, so that when Camavinga enters the pitch, he knows exactly where to be and what is expected of him.

While Camavinga is certainly smart enough to fulfill different roles and also undoubtedly has the skill-set to be just more than one kind of midfielder, the reality is that the pressures of Real Madrid are different. As easy as Modric, Kroos, and Casemiro make it look, being a midfielder in Madrid is no easy task.

There are enough pressures and variables for Camavinga to worry about. Ancelotti probably knows this and probably knows that the best thing for Camavinga is to have that consistency of role, especially in his first season at the Bernabeu.

Where should Camavinga play in midfield? Somewhere on the left side would seem to be his preference, and it would seem to be Ancelotti’s preference for the left-footer, based on where he has shown up on the pitch across his appearances thus far. But regardless of the position chosen at the end, the important thing is Camavinga gets a good number of minutes spread out across games.

He should get lots of chances against mid-level competition, but Real also shouldn’t be afraid to challenge him, too. As we saw against Inter and throughout his career in Ligue 1, Camavinga can hang with the best in Europe.