After a nail biting effort, Real Madrid walked away with the three points after a narrow 2-1 win over Espanyol in their 26/27 season opener. Despite strong performances from Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler in the midfield, the midfield still struggled despite the focus put on it by Mourinho. The Valverde-Bernardo midfield pivot struggled to produce what the team needed, which could lead the manager to turn to other players in his squad.
Real Madrid have been active with player sales this summer, specifically when it comes to academy products, however despite interest, per The Athletic Real Madrid have rejected a move from French side Lille for midfielder Thiago Pitarch and that could end up being one of the most important decisions made by the club this summer.
Real Madrid need to keep Pitarch at all costs and they know it
The biggest area Real Madrid has been trying to patch in the midfield is the gap left in the deep laying, tempo controlling role following the retirement of Toni Kroos and the club has tried everything imaginable and haven't found their solution yet. Mourinho's first attempt this season at finding a solution was to use Bernardo Silva in the Kroos role and Valverde as the defensive midfielder and it didn't produce the results many were looking for.
Bernardo's best days are behind him and he isn't the game changer he once was, Valverde, Tchouameni, and Camavinga have all been tried in the Kroos role and didn't produce, however last season we saw incredible production from Thiago Pitarch, leading many to believe he is the solution to the midfield problems.
The 19-year-old put in a number of incredible performances last season, including a number of solid outings against Benfica, Manchester City, and Atletico Madrid, and showed he can perform under the brightest lights and that despite his young age deserves the chance under Mourinho to prove himself and be trusted to be the solution.
It goes without saying that this is a big season for a number of players at Real Madrid to perform and after some of their performances on matchday one, there are very few players who are guaranteed starters. Valverde, Bernardo, and all the other midfielders in the team need to perform this season because Pitarch is breathing down their necks as the next big midfield prodigy at Real Madrid, and Valverde in particular should be thankful that Pitarch is out injured right now, cause if he wasn't he could very well have been the started against Espanyol.
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