Carvajal suspension upheld, will likely be unavailable for season opener—MARCA

Dani Carvajal is set to miss Real Madrid’s season opener when the club travel to Vigo to face Celta on Saturday. He is not injured, rather a yellow card suspension has been carried over from the final match of last season.

According to MARCA’s report, the Spanish FA are set to implement a new rule that prevents these suspensions from carrying over into the following season. It also points out that the rule change has yet to happen because official approval has not been made due to the offseason.

With Carvajal likely missing now, Zidane will likely start Alvaro Odriozola in his place. He didn’t have a great preseason, but he is of course Carvajal’s backup. Odriozola will likely feature whether Zidane goes with the new 3-5-2 formation or his more traditional 4-3-3.

Between the injuries and now the upheld suspension to Carvajal, Real’s squad is already taking a beating. They’ll have to weather this opening storm and bring out their best against Celta.

James set to stay at Real Madrid

According to Cadena SER’s Javi Hernandez, James is set to stay at Real Madrid as he wants to prove to Zidane that he is still a serviceable player. Zidane is also reportedly thinking of keeping James at the club.

With Napoli not making the rumored move for James earlier this offseason, instead reportedly moving now for PSV winger and Mexican international Hirving Lozano. Atlético have also been rumored as a potential landing spot, but they are likely out as well with the reported move for Valencia’s Rodrigo.

To fuel these reports of James now staying, Jose Luis Sanchez said on El Chiringuito that “Real Madrid see a very mature and very changed James.”

It really makes the most sense for Zidane to utilize James given how many questions have been raised this preseason with the midfield and its lack of depth. There’s not many options with Llorente, Kovacic, and Ceballos gone, so there’s no real reason to let James join them.

There’s not even a definite answer with Van de Beek now, with a move that rumors have happening next season. It’s important that James actually gets a chance to prove himself again and be part of a team that is severely lacking depth in positions he can help fill.

New rumors arise of a potential Jovic loan...yes, seriously—MARCA

MARCA have reported new rumors from Serbia regarding a potential loan of Luka Jovic coming from the Serbian media.

They allege the club and Zidane were not impressed with his preseason performance and are looking to now loan him out for the season.

In another report, MARCA did go as far to say that this move is unlikely. They cited “the two biggest newspapers in Serbia” as the sources of these rumors.

I would be floored if Real actually loaned Jovic out. It seems very unlikely they’d be willing to loan out a €60 million player based on the few preseason matches he featured in.

He is set to be Benzema’s backup, at least for the time-being, and its doubtful they’d loan him out in favor of Mariano again.

Needless to say, if Real Madrid were to loan Jovic out, which is highly unlikely, it would be a grave mistake. Luckily, I wouldn’t put much stock into these rumors, especially since MARCA are even saying it’s unlikely to actually happen.