When you look at the Real Madrid squad, there are a number of players you could point to as being the one that is the future of the club. The obvious ones are players like Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, and Jude Bellingham, all of whom have established themselves as superstars at Los Blancos, but there are other players at the club who possess the talent to be one of the leading faces of the future.
One of the lesser-talked-about players who has everything needed to be a leading star at Madrid is Arda Guler. The Turkish international arrived at the Estadio Bernabeu at just 18 years old from Fenerbahce in the summer of 2023, and he arrived with some high expectations on his shoulders.
His first two season at the club were somewhat slow, however this season has been a completely different story, and Alvaro Arbeloa points to the player as someone he sees as a star for his team going forward.
Arbeloa waxes lyrical about Real Madrid star
While speaking with the media this week, Alvaro Arbeloa was full of nothing but praise for Arda Guler, praising him not only for the player he is, but the player he will become as he continues to develop over the years. The Real Madrid manager went on to say:
"At the moment, I can only speak what I see in Arda Guler. He has enormous potential, very strong talent, great vision, fantastic decisive passes, and an excellent ability to change the direction of play."
He added:
"He's a young player with a lot of room for improvement, but he's putting in a tremendous effort. He finishes matches exhausted from his defensive work, yet he helps us a lot. We want to make the most of his talent, which will especially shine in midfield or attack. He will need to keep developing in all these positions."
Arbeloa concluded:
"And when the time comes for the toughest matches, he will undoubtedly help us. Over time, he will become a very important player at the world level."
These are impressive words coming from the manager, but so far this season, Guler has been showing exactly why Arbeloa thinks so highly of him. The Turkish international has been in his best form for Madrid, bagging three goals and 11 assists, proving to be a key player this season and someone the team can rely on to create big moments when most needed.
In the beginning of the season Xabi Alonso struggled to get Guler and Jude Bellingham to work in the same team, but so far in his short tenure, Arbeloa has been able to get the best out of Guler in a range of different positions on the pitch, making the 20-year-old a key player in the managers system,
and he is now up there with Mbappe and Vinicius Jr as one of the first names of the team sheet on any given matchday.