Aurelien Tchouameni did not play for Real Madrid in their 4-1 win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday night. He was on the bench, as his countryman, Eduardo Camavinga, took his place in the squad for the game.
Camavinga was surprisingly great for Real Madrid, and was able to build on the form he showed while playing for France in the international break under Zinedine Zidane. There were a lot of good moments from the Frenchman on the night, and he put forward a very clean, mature display in the middle of the park.
His partnership with Bernardo Silva looked very seamless, and he was profiled well by Jose Mourinho, which was a refreshing sight.
All of this leads to the question: how is he compared to Tchouameni this season? Obviously, in the last couple of seasons, there is no doubt about the fact that Tchouameni has been by far the better player out of the two. Camavinga’s frustrating inconsistencies and injury record made fans understand that he is nowhere near the kind of player everyone thought he would be at 24 years old.
After a terrible couple of seasons, at least Eduardo Camavinga is trying to improve
However, the improvements he has made this season, and the limited time Real Madrid fans have seen him play after his spell with Zidane in France, it actually seems like he has tried to improve the way he was playing for Real Madrid. He has been much more positive with the ball. He moves around for it, and his passing has improved quite a bit in the last few weeks.
Even before the international breaks started, Camavinga was still playing better than he was last season. He is still not at the level fans want him to be, because that level is very hard to reach immediately because of the standards that he sets for himself, but he's actively improving. He actively contributes to the team's build-up, and he's not stagnant. When his team has the ball, Camavinga constantly at least tries to move around and does not seem scared of the ball.
Yes, he has his inconsistencies, and this website has talked about them extensively in these last few months, but credit where credit is due: Camavinga has finally been working towards becoming a better player than he has been in the last few months.
Compare that with Tchouameni: Tchouameni has simply stagnated as a football player. If anything, he is regressing, and he consistently hides himself from the responsibility of controlling the game. He does not seem like he wants the ball to come to him. He does not want to take the initiative to do anything with the it, and it just seems like he is going backwards for no reason.
Everyone knows that Tchouameni is one of the most talented midfielders in the world, but now he is coming to an age where he is supposed to be entering his prime. Ever since he started off at Real Madrid, it does not seem like he has made any substantial improvements. In that sense, Camavinga also stagnated last season, but he is actively trying to change that now, which is why, at the very least, it is worth respecting him for putting in hard work. At least he's trying to change the bad habits about him, compared to Tchouameni, who is not.
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