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Real Madrid have unarguably been the most active team in the summer window so far, spending in excess of £270m to bring in five new players, with talks ongoing for a number of other players.
This splash of cash in understandable, given the massive level of underperformance by the club last season wherein they faltered spectacularly in the league as well as the Champions League and Copa del Rey.
The club would be hoping to rise back to the pinnacle of the game and these new players would be the bedrock upon which their climb back up would be built. In this piece, we shall be giving an in-depth overview of who these five players are and what they are bringing to the table at the Santiago Bernabeu.
#5 Rodrygo Goes (£40.5m from Santos)
Rodrygo made history as the youngest player to appear in the Copa Libertadores for Santos when he did so in March 2018, aged just 17 years and 50 days and went one further a fortnight later by becoming the youngest Brazilian player in history to score in the competition.
His performance in his native Brazil garnered interest from major European clubs and on 15 June 2018, Real Madrid reached a deal with Santos for his transfer effective June 2019. The deal was reportedly valued at a sum of €45m.
In total, the 18-year-old scored 17 goals from 80 matches and given his young age, it can be expected that he would only get better with the improvement in the quality of service he would receive at the Santiago Bernabeu.
He would compete for places in attack with fellow Brazilian Vinicius Jr and Marco Asensio and Real Madrid would benefit from his technique and direct running, although much like his compatriot, his final product sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.
Rodrygo would be hoping to follow in the footsteps of some Brazilians like Ronaldo, Robinho and Roberto Carlos who are among the greatest Brazilians to represent Real Madrid and make a mark at the Bernabeu.
#4 Eder Militao (£45m from FC Porto)
This is another Brazilian who would be donning the all-white of Real Madrid come the start of next season.
Eder Militao had earned rave reviews with his performances for Sao Paulo in the Brazilian league and had his first foray into European football when Portuguese giants FC Porto signed him in the summer of 2018.
He further impressed in the Primeira Liga with The Dragons and his displays were stellar enough to convince the Real Madrid hierarchy to sanction his purchase for the sum of £45m effective July 1, 2019.
The 21-year-old is a towering center-back who is also comfortable at either right-back or defensive midfield, as he has the requisite technique to succeed in both positions while he also proves a decent asset in both boxes when either attacking or defending set-pieces thanks to his considerable height.
Eder Militao would provide competition for Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane at the center of the pack in what was a defensively shaky Real Madrid while he could also be a useful backup option to the injury-prone Dani Carvajal at the right side of defense.
#3 Ferland Mendy (£47m from Olympique Lyon)
While only a handful of Real Madrid players can genuinely claim to have ended last season with their reputation intact, out of the many players who underperformed, perhaps the worst hit was Marcelo.
Over the last decade, the Brazilian international has cemented his reputation as unarguably the standout left-back in the world, helping Real Madrid to numerous trophies, with his bombarding runs forward and pin-point crossing playing a major role in all the successes enjoyed by the side.
However, last season saw an uncharacteristic dip in form by the 31-year-old, as he struggled to keep up pace with opposition attackers while he also saw a significant drop in his attacking output.
Indeed, his errors were so glaring that he was forced to issue a public apology to fans, while also apologizing to his teammates in private.
At a point last season, he lost his starting place to young upstart Sergi Reguilon and even though he was partially restored to the starting lineup by Zinedine Zidane upon the Frenchman's return, his performance levels did not significantly improve.
This is nothing unique, as having been at the top for so long, the law of diminishing returns suggests Marcelo has nowhere else to go but down.
Heading into next season, the left-back position is one that Real Madrid was keen to address and they have found the perfect solution in Ferland Mendy.
Just two years ago, the 24-year-old was playing in the second division of French football with Le Havre before joining Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyon in the summer of 2017.
Over the next two seasons, he performed significantly well for Les Gones and this convinced Perez to peruse his signature on a six-year contract.
The French international offers the same attacking verve Marcelo does (albeit on a significantly lower level) while offering more defensive stability than the Brazilian.
#2 Luka Jovic
While Real Madrid's defensive woes played a significant role in their underperformance last season, this was not exactly unique to 2018/2019, as, in previous years, the club had also shown defensive frailties but always ended up winning major trophies.
The major difference between last season and previous years was that unlike the latter, Los Blancos simply did not score enough goals to blot out the goals conceded and a major reason for this was the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
With the Portuguese around, you can be sure to get at least 40 goals or more off his boots, but in his absence Real Madrid were left with players like Bale, Asensio, Benzema, Mariano and the likes who although are more than decent players in their own right, are nowhere near being on the level of Ronaldo.
If the aforementioned players (with the exception of Benzema) had stepped up to the plate, then it could well have been a different story but that failed to happen, with no Real Madrid forward apart from the Frenchman hitting double figures in the league while Bale, Asensio, Mariano, Vasquez, and Vinicius all accounted for the paltry sum of 15 league goals between them.
In total, Real Madrid scored just 63 La Liga goals which was their lowest tally in two decades and it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this lack of goals was a major reason why they faltered.
To put this in perspective - they conceded 46 goals last season which although poor, was not too far off from the defensive totals they posted in 2017/2018 (44) or their league winning campaign in 2016/2017 (41).
By contrast, they scored 94 La Liga goals in 2017/2018 and the impressive total of 106 en route their league win the season prior.
Goals win matches and any team hopeful of contesting for the major trophies must have at least two players or more who can score 20+ goals every season.
In Luka Jovic, Real Madrid potentially have a ruthless finisher who could bang in the goals to help augment the striking workload on Karim Benzema.
The 21-year-old had his breakthrough campaign last season wherein he scored 27 goals in 48 matches in all competitions (significantly more than any Real Madrid forward bar Benzema) to help his side Frankfurt secure a top-five finish in the Bundesliga while he also finished as the second highest goalscorer in the Europa League as his club made a wonderful run to the semifinals.
Jovic is already a full international with Serbia and his technique and wonderful holdup play means he can be deployed as a lone striker or in a front two along with Karim Benzema.
#1 Eden Hazard
Of all the transfers made by Real Madrid so far, Eden Hazard is unarguably the pick of the bunch and it has been a long time since a new arrival at the Santiago Bernabeu created such a buzz and the 50,000 fans who turned out for his official presentation seem to lay credence to this.
For seven years with Chelsea, Eden Hazard played his way into the hearts of fans and rivals alike, with his consummate professionalism as well as wonderful displays on the field earning him widespread admiration.
His talent level is extraordinary and for many years, a major topic of debate has been over whether the Belgian playmaker has what it takes to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or.
A frequent surmise was that as long as he remained at Chelsea, the possibility of him doing so were next to nil, as the London club are not on the level of mega clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid.
His long-awaited transfer to the Spanish capital has finally given the 28-year-old the chance to live his dream, while the club would be getting the services of a bonafide world class player with the innate ability to decide the outcome of games in an instant.
Real Madrid are eager to get back to the top after the shambles of last season and Eden Hazard would have a huge say in propelling the club back to where it belongs.
