Is Mayoral ready to be the permanent backup for Benzema?

Borja Mayoral has been a bright spot since he first stepped on the pitch with Real Madrid's first team last Saturday against Atlético. It was clear that he had the potential to be an important attacker in Madrid's future, but not many fans and pundits expected him to be that ready and mature considering he's only 18 years old.

Mayoral likes to be involved even though nothing was working well against Atlético. With the midfield struggling he often tried to help them get the ball out of Real's own half by leaving his mark and asking for a pass in Benzema-like fashion. There were plenty of big players for Madrid on the pitch yet Mayoral had enough character and personality to accept his team needed him in his first big game for Los Blancos. That is valuable.

Karim Benzema might be out of Real's lineups for almost a month and Zinedine Zidane will have to find a replacement. Mayoral could definitely be that man for the time being, but will he stay with Real Madrid after Benzema recovers from his injury or will he rejoin Castilla trying to achieve promotion? Will he have a role with this squad in the near future? If so, Real might not need to sign a backup striker -- Morata and others -- next summer. After all, Mayoral might be ready enough to take on that challenge.

Zidane and the player himself should not get too excited though. Mayoral will most likely show is deficiencies as a player sooner rather than later. He's definitely too young for the big stage and even if he has the qualities to make a big impact he is probably too young to handle the pressure of being under the spotlight.