Miami confirmed what everyone has whispered: Real Madrid misses a playmaker. It is the elephant in the room – something both obviously and deeply anchored. The team urgently needs a brain, a rudder – in other words, a duckweed. And the question will always be stuck: could this be avoided by retaining Modrić?
But that chapter is closed; It was a club decision and it says. So the situation remains unchanged. Real Madrid needs a playmaker and signing one is essential. The match against Al Hilal made that crystal clear.
The problem is that the club still has to identify an ideal candidate. “Okay, but who?” Is the question that continues to arise. And with that uncertainty, the entire operation sometimes feels like it comes to a halt – a slow, painful stall. Mayday.
The team's debut was a perfect snapshot of this dilemma. There was no player to lead the creative process, to control the pace or to bring the chaos to the order.
They need someone like Rodrigo, Vitinha, Fabián or Pedri – someone you can trust to reset the game and push the team ahead, the core and heart of the team. Real Madrid just doesn't have that player. Without him they are convicted of confusing. Yes, the team is full of talent, able to blind in a whirlwind of chaos, but that only enables them to survive instead of thriving – and that is far from ideal.
The facts speak for themselves. Real Madrid came to rest at the Hard Rock Stadium that has lost ownership and checked only 45% of the ball. Even at the end of the game, their possession hardly rose to 52%. This would be less worrying if their game plan had been to be deep and counterattack, but that was not the case. They lost the possession because Hilal was exceeding them. Tchouaméni is a stop, Valverde a Roadrunner and Bellingham a Finisher. Xabi Alonso built a midfield with a lot of verticality, but very little horizontal movement – none of these players are makers, nor were they intended. With the Wingers wide, the team was left vulnerable and the outcome predictable.
Bellingham looked deeper into the numbers and, even though he played for 40 minutes, hit the ball six times less than Güler (50 to 56) and behaved more like a winger than a playmaker. Valverde completed a total of 52 passes, but only 18 in the last third, only 34% – the area where real danger is created. Madrid became a predictable side and shuffled the ball aimless from one flank to another and clung to the hope that their wing players work magically when received the ball, but it rarely happened.
The diagnosis is clear, but the solution remains elusive, the biggest challenge for the club. Xabi Alonso wanted Zubimendi and insisted on him, but that battle now seems to be lost to Arsenal. Since then, no clear alternative has emerged. Rodrigo has always been a favorite in Chamartín, and voices that Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández praises, have become louder, but these players are expensive and their transfers feel almost utopian. In the meantime, options in the 'affordable' category cannot convince. Stiller was considered but eventually rejected.
This is where Real Madrid currently stands, the market and sweating blood to find that elusive football player who can perform at the level of Real Madrid without breaking the bank – a task far from simple. This is the elephant in the room, both obvious and deeply rooted.
The feeling is that this operation could go through until the end of August, a slow combustion without easy answers. But the diagnosis remains crystal clear: this Real Madrid team misses a playmaker and signing one is absolutely essential. Miami confirmed it.