Here’s how Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. could fit together at Real Madrid

Mbappe on the left, Vinicius on the right

This might be the scenario when the manager (I can mention Carlo Ancelotti, but nothing is ever guaranteed at Real Madrid) decides to use his most prized asset in his best position. Mbappe is a player on whom a lot of money would be invested and the club would obviously want to see Mbappe play in his best and natural position, that is on the left.

Mbappe doesn’t have to prove himself as a left-winger because he has an unbelievable record, having played there for so long. He started off as a right-winger at PSG, but slowly he shifted to the left and played a big part of the last three seasons as an inverted winger on the left. It is a position where the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo have unlocked their potential to the fullest, and given the similarities in their attributes, the left-wing is Mbappe’s best position.

Mbappe does register great numbers in the creative side of the game, but he is a natural goalscorer, and he will prefer to play from the left, from where he can take more shots and cut inside with relative ease.

But the problem is that Vinicius will have to play from the right, a position where he has never had consistent game time. He didn’t look convincing in the limited playing time as a right-winger, including the game against Chelsea, in which he looked clueless for some parts of the game, and couldn’t beat Ben Chilwell with his natural dribbling technique, which is more suited for the left-wing.

He did create a wonderful goal from the right-wing against Shakhtar last week, with a beautiful piece of linkup play from the right. It was a sign of progress and had shown the improvement in Vini’s overall game, but we can’t judge Vinicius the RW on the basis of one such instance.

Vinicius being a selfless player might accept the change in position, and given his extraordinary work ethic, he will look to improve his gameplay from the right. But after having a look at Vinicius’ wonderful start to the 2021/22 season, and looking at the way Vini has made the left-wing his own, it will be interesting to see if a manager would be courageous enough to change something that’s working very well.