Nuri Sahin Will Get Some Minutes For Real Madrid Against Valencia

Since joining Real Madrid on a dirt-cheap transfer this summer, Turkish sensation Nuri Sahin hasn't played a lot of matches: nagging injuries have forced the budding star to sit out for most of the campaign for los blancos. However, the ex-Dortmund central midfielder made his debut for Madrid last Liga week, and it's looking more and more like he will have to immediately slot into José Mourinho's rotation.

Sources close to Real Madrid have confirmed this week that, due to some notable injuries in Madrid's midfield--most importantly, Ángel di María--and some players who might be tired from international duties (like, everyone), Nuri Sahin will probably be asked to slot into the central midfield for some portion of Saturday night's matchup at the Mestalla stadium.

With Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Xabi Alonso all coming back from the international "break" having played large portions of their matches, and Kaká still working on his nagging injury, the turkish phenom will probably be almost forced into the rotation. But hey, maybe this will be a good thing for Nuri--we've been waiting to see how he holds up in a really competitive match, and, well, better now than on December 10th (our match against FC Barcelona) to try him out!