When it comes to building a winning team one of the most important decisions is picking the right player to be the captain leading the team every match. Real Madrid have had legendary captains in the past like Fernando Hierro, Iker Casillas, and Sergio Ramos and have had incredible success under their leadership. Current captain Dani Carvajal will be departing in the summer and the club may already have their captain order for next season and it's one than fans may raise some eyebrows at.
As being reported by MadridXtra on X, should Real Madrid follow their typical seniority rule when choosing captains, the captains for next season will follow this order: Fede Valverde, Vinicius Jr, Thibaut Courtois, and Andriy Lunin. However Rodrygo could usurp Lunin in the pecking order given he has been a first team player longer as Lunin spent three years out on loan after arriving in 2018.
When it comes to captains, seniority isn't always the best policy
Real Madrid has recently gone through a string of their captain leaving in the summer. With Dani Carvajal confirmed to be leaving this will mark the sixth straight season the club captain has left. Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Karim Benzema, Nacho, Luka Modric, and now Dani Carvajal, with this becoming an uncomfortable tradition at the Bernabeu.
As a result the club has had to find a new captain every year which can have an impact on the performance and consistency of play. As mentioned earlier the club tends to follow a seniority rule when it comes to choosing their next captain, with Fede Valverde now the most senior player in the squad having arrived in 2017. With Carvajal not playing as much as he used to Valverde has been the captain for a majority of this season to somewhat mixed results, with some feeling that based on his recent antics he isn't fit to wear the armband for a club like Real Madrid.
Vinicius Jr and Thibaut Courtois would be next in line having both arrived during the summer of 2018, with the Brazilian having priority over the Belgian for some reason. We've all seen Vini's antics over the last few years, and they are not the way a captain should be behaving. Vinicius isn't the right kind of player to be a leader and their is really only one player in the squad that is a leader and it's Courtois. The goalkeeper should far and away be the number one candidate to be the captain next season, and if Jose Mourinho were smart, it should be one of the first decisions he makes.
The club is expecting a number of major changes next season and one change could be shifting from a seniority based system to s player voting system to choose the next captain and if that ius the case, Courtois should be the man wearing the armband when the 26/27 season kicks off later this year.
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