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Real Madrid is going through a horrific season and is effectively out of every competition that they have participated this season. Santiago Solari has been swapped with Zinedine Zidane at the helm and now the Frenchman has a lot to do at the club. The players currently in possession of the club are not enough for the Los Blancos to compete at the top level. The mix of experience and youth without a proven match-winner in their side is not working for the club.
As usual, big names are always linked with the club, whether they know about it or not is a different matter. Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo left, the void and the absence of the goals is a matter which has not been addressed yet. Mariano Diaz was a signing who was hyped a lot but didn't end up being the player he was expected to. Vinicius Junior is just a young kid. So, Eden Hazard, Kylian Mbappe and Sadio Mane are the players who have been linked with the Los Blancos recently. Not to mention the likes of Harry Kane, Paul Pogba, and Christian Eriksen.
We are talking about wingers here, so without further ado, let us look at what they offer to the team. We will talk about their playing style, how they will fit into Zidane's tactics, compatibility with the Spanish style of play. First up, Kylian Mbappe.
Kylian Mbappe
Doing its rounds all right. This rumor has one job, keep popping up. It was among the talks when Mbappe was at Monaco, it rose again after the World Cup, and now it is up again. So Kylian Mbappe. Do we even need to talk about his playing style? Let's just get a quick glance. He is an insanely fast player, a good dribbler, a good finisher. Plays in the right wing at PSG and favors to ram through the defenses. Unlike many players, we haven't yet seen Mbappe shoot from range on frequent occasions. Also, he does cut in to pass but not to get the ball into his favored foot and shoot, at least not from the edge of the box.
Among all that surrounds Mbappe, the hype, the status, the rumors of the big-money move are also there. So will Mbappe find himself in the whites of Madrid?
First things first. Mbappe won't come cheap. PSG bought him for €180 million from Monaco and they won't let him go for cheap, but they have to let him go if the amount is paid. FFP regulations won't allow PSG to keep tight hold of the player if the player is willing to go. Of course, Mbappe will be willing to join Real Madrid. But is he worth the money? Madrid has to spend around €250 million to land Mbappe. If they spend that amount, then will they be able to fill the other voids? We don't think so.
Adaptability at Zidane's Madrid
Mbappe currently plays in the right wing and Madrid desperately needs somebody to play there. Lucas Vazquez has been far from impressive on the right wing despite promising signs. The fullbacks in the right wing, Carvajal and Odriozola, both haven't been in good touch with both Vazquez and Gareth Bale. They haven't shared the connection that a Messi-Alba duo, or a Robertson-Mane duo shares. Fair to say that none of the players are in great touch, but there haven't been promising signs in the right wing as much as there has been from Reguilon and Vinicius in the left side.
If Kylian Mbappe joins, he can just walk into the lineup. Now from watching PSG's games, there is a point of concern for Real Madrid. Mbappe doesn't have a good connection with his partners on the right-hand side either. So does he help the fact that the player linkup hasn't been great on the right side, doesn't seem like it.
Another point of concern when Mbappe joins is the front three. With the funds that Madrid have for transfers, Mbappe would possibly be the only player they can afford. They cannot afford Sadio Mane or Eden Hazard alongside him. What that does is create an inexperienced front three. Asensio or Vinicius in the right side, Benzema or Rodrygo in the middle, Mbappe in the left. Mbappe is just a young kid. He hasn't even stepped out of France. At the national team, he plays with his French teammates with whom he has good enough understanding. But visible from Mbappe's games in the Champions League, he isn't extraordinary as he seems in the Ligue 1.
Can Madrid afford to gamble with Mbappe on one wing and Vinicius on the other, or Asensio on the other? Karim Benzema is aging. Mbappe is not a creator, neither is Vinicius. Does Madrid still want to rely on Benzema to create rather than the people they sign? We haven't seen much of Rodrygo but he will take his sweet time to adapt too.
Mbappe can offer a solution for the long-term on his position. He can secure and he can improve on his game. But we cannot expect him to create chances. Madrid needs to find somebody else to drop deep and create. For a short term, which suggests next season, signing Mbappe cannot be a solution to challenge for trophies. Not Mbappe alone. And with the transfer money that Mbappe will cost, he is the only forward they can sign. But the silver lining comes with the fact that Bale will get Madrid a good amount of money, and maybe Varane leaving will also a good amount of money. Perhaps Hazard can be afforded with that money which is needed to create a strong trident. If not, then don't expect a vast improvement from the front three.
Mbappe can run with pace, dribble with pace, but with all due respect, LaLiga isn't Ligue 1. We have seen a player of Kaka's stature struggling here. We are seeing a player of Coutinho's stature struggling after performing exceedingly well at Liverpool. We cannot expect a youngster to take the league by storm all of a sudden.
Sadio Mane
Liverpool and their fans must be flabbergasted on hearing this. Sadio Mane was nowhere near the radar of Real Madrid but that was only until Zidane came back. The Madrid coach has seen something in Sadio Mane that he thinks can be of good use for his team in the upcoming season.
Sadio Mane's style
Let's have a look at Sadio Mane's traits. He is a winger who is used to playing on both sides of the pitch. Currently a left-winger in Klopp's system, Mane is also capable of playing on the other wing and the center position where he played in Liverpool's recent game where Firmino was missing.
Mane is a big name, a Galactico, no doubt about it. But can Real Madrid really depend on him to be their main man? Let us look at Mane's style of play. Like any other winger, he has got the dribbling, the finishing, and the passing that is required. What he doesn't have is sheer pace like Bale, Vinicius, Mbappe. But that's not the only thing he doesn't have. All the abilities, passing, dribbling and finishing are not exceptional, they are average.
Now if you read that above line, you'd come for my head. We don't need to rewind much to see Mane's exceptional finishing. Going back to Bayern Munich against Real Madrid is enough to get an idea. A brilliant turn away from Neuer, the chip over the keeper and the defenders, you don't call that average finishing. Then why did we refer to Mane as average above? We didn't. Mane is not average, he is world-class, but his skills cannot be referred to as amazing on an individual basis. He isn't the best dribbler, or passer, or finisher available.
He is a very eccentric player, to be honest. He can miss an easy 1v1 on a regular basis as he did against Napoli or he can finish exceptionally as he did against Bayern. He has a poor first touch on a lot of occasions, a poor decision making on a lot of occasions, something that world-class players don't do. But then, he doesn't lose possession often, he scores clutch goals and provides assists too. His teammates cover up a lot of his flaws that we mentioned above.
At Liverpool, he has the license to do as he wishes because his team is always there for him. When he plays down the left-wing, Andy Robertson is almost just a foot or two behind him and thus Mane can choose whether to pick the overlapping Robbo or cut inside. His heat map thus forms a classic L-shape bound the box, which shows his regularity of either cutting inside or driving down to cross. What does that mean? Yes, it becomes predictable.
When Salah was a newcomer in the Liverpool side, Mane was shifted to the left side and his conversion rate of goals dropped massively. But Salah was so good on the other side that almost all teams concentrated on the Egyptian, giving Mane time to work on his creativity on the left side and improve.
Adaptability in Zidane's Madrid
If Zidane is looking at Mane as a Ronaldo replacement, it isn't going to happen. Mane cannot give you 50 goals in a season. Primarily because scoring is not the only thing he looks to do and secondly because he needs some good quality around him. We are not saying that Real Madrid lack quality.
At Liverpool in Klopp's system, Naby Keita wanders into the half-space in a very advanced position. Andy Robertson at almost all moments in way ahead into the wings. What Mane does is that he sneaks past slipping the attention of the defense because Robbo and Keita are pulling the eyes towards them. Also, you have Salah at the other end who gets more attention from the defense compared to Mane. Robertson on the left, Salah on the right, Firmino in the middle, and somehow nobody notices the danger of Mane. When the danger is spotted, it is too late for the defense.
Will it happen in Madrid? Well, Marcelo will be high but he is not young and blistering with pace. Reguilon won't attract that many eyes from the defense that people like Robertson do. Also, among the forwards, Mane will be given special treatment. Lucas Vazquez at the other end won't pull the defense towards him. Mane would have to adapt to the added attention from defenses because he is not used to it.
What Madrid can actually do is create a clone of Mane out of Lucas Vazquez. Train him to lurk like Mane and sneak behind defenses, unnoticed. Score goals, make assists, contribute. Other than that, if Madrid expects him to be the same man or better for that matter at Bernabeu than he is at Anfield, they are mistaken.
Sadio Mane is a huge upgrade for Lucas Vazquez or Vinicius Junior. He can replace either one of them in the starting lineup. He can play on both sides of the wings. But either the team adapts and bring the best out of him or he has to do more than what he does at Liverpool. Simply put, it doesn't seem like Mane would be as good at Madrid as he is at Liverpool. Liverpool doesn't depend on Mane, everyone depends on each other in Klopp's team.
Mane's advantage though lies in clutch situations. Being experienced, he can turn the game around in tough situations. He can do better than Vinicius, not in terms of pace but definitely passing and finishing, although on some stages he does make bad decisions. But he will make up for the bad decisions that he makes. But dependency on Mane, not feasible. Or maybe Mane as attacking pivot, not possible too.
Eden Hazard
Real Madrid we chasing a certain Brazilian last year until they saw this Belgian perform at the World Cup. Madrid did bid for Hazard but Roman Abramovich reportedly rejected the bid especially after he lost Courtois to them. They chased a bird in the bushes and lost one which was at their fingertips, ended up with absolutely nothing last season. This season they have been more direct towards him but yet again, the management likes Mbappe, Zidane likes what he is seeing from Mane.
Talk about Hazard, he can cover a lot of positions in the forward line. A right winger, a left-winger, if needed as a striker, or as a false-9 where Maurizio Sarri has tried him quite a number of times. He has everything that you need from a winger. Pace, dribbling, shooting from distance, finishing, almost complete. Unlike the other prospects in the radar, Hazard is actually the one willing to join the Los Blancos.
Zidane's Madrid and Hazard's compatibility
When it comes to Zidane's Madrid, it is more about direct football, rather than tactical masterclass. If you play, then play to win, doesn't matter if you have 70% or 50% possession of the ball. Madrid holds possession in the area just ahead of the mid-line, if possible, which generally is due to the capability of their midfielders. Then the progression happens, not necessarily through the center. Most occasions, it would be through one side of the pitch, completely cutting off the other side. Then the finalization comes in, the fullback advances, the hounds at the far post, cross and finish.
This is Zidane's Madrid from when Ronaldo was available where crosses turn to goals more often than not. This won't be Zidane's tactical system with the current squad and neither with Hazard. Unlike Ronaldo, who relies on off the ball movements, Hazard is a great on-ball player. If you aren't utilizing Hazard's talent on the ball, you are doing nothing with him.
Hazard is more or less poised to take on the left side of the field, although he would be happy to run along the right side as well. With Hazard, this is the first thing to sort out. Which wing do you play him in? It doesn't matter which. It ultimately comes down to which winger you want to bench from the current team. If you are moving Vazquez to the bench then Hazard plays on the left, if Vinicius, then he plays on the right.
Also, Hazard will rely on moving centrally and dribbling all the way inside the box. And maybe it is just from his Chelsea days, we haven't seen Hazard link that much with his fullbacks. He links with other players in the forward line and the advancing midfielders, but not the fullbacks. There is hardly a situation where we see Hazard lays the ball off to the overlapping fullback, also because the fullback hardly overlaps at Chelsea. Even in the Belgium National side, he isn't used to a connection with the fullbacks.
So, if you are playing him on the left side, Marcelo's contribution from the wider areas is bound to go down. Unless you have a great header of the ball, there is no point in crossing when you can just pass to Hazard ahead and watch the show unfold. You can either put that as a good thing or you can equally state that as a bad thing. If Eden gets the ball, his first thought is to dribble inside the box or dribble and set a teammate up. It is never to get the ball and lay it off to the overlapping player and wait for the cutback.
That said, even though the fullback's contribution would go down, it won't harm the team. Hazard doesn't fluff the passes or the finishes. The only problem is that if he doesn't find a way inside, he has to adjust to the Spanish style and learn to link up with Marcelo. He wouldn't find it as easy to dribble with intensely pressing and aggressive defense as he does with the deep blocking and physical English defenses. He runs at English defense but won't be running like that against Barcelona.
Anyhow, if you want to get 50 goals a season, he can get you that. He can score about 35 in a season, and also set up about 15 in a season. This is your go-to man for getting goals.
Author's choice
Pros
Sadio Mane's inclusion has a big advantage in terms of team play. He is a person who adjusts according to the team and sneaks goals. He also brings the best out of his fullbacks. In clutch situations, Mane will come in handy. He can play on both sides of the pitch.
Kylian Mbappe's pace is a need if counter-attacking football is to be played. He is a young man who can continue in his position for almost 10 to 12 years. He is a kid with an eagle eye for goal. His linkup with players in the forward line is good.
Eden Hazard is a person who fits every description of a lethal winger. He can play on both sides of the pitch and among the three creates plenty more chances. His dribbling skills are one to watch out for and he will get Real Madrid the 50 odd goals that Ronaldo used to give them, by either scoring or assisting.
Cons
Mane is perhaps only as good in Liverpool. He took his fair share of time adjusting to Klopp's tactics. Salah's arrival left him at ease to adjust on the left side. The focus of the opposition on Salah and Firmino always helps Mane to sneak away. At Madrid, he will the focal point and the focus will be on him. We cannot say if he can adjust to that.
Kylian Mbappe, with all due respect, is just 20. This leaves the attack with two youngsters on either flank. Also, Mbappe has never moved out of the comfort zone in France and hasn't been great in Champions League with PSG. When someone like Malcom performed in the Ligue 1 without the quality of PSG's players around him, Mbappe is expected to do that. His numbers might be misleading.
Eden Hazard is the right man for Real Madrid and like Mane gives the option to play on both sides. However, his connection with fullbacks is not exceptional and he rather takes it upon himself to score or create near the box. That is the only thing we can point out on him.
