Open Thread: October 12, 2021

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail, Ezek Ix or NeRObutBlanco.

Tchouameni reports

A report at Marca by Jose Felix Diaz is talking about Aurelien Tchouameni as a replacement for Casemiro. He recently played midfield for France at the Nations League, has an estimated value of 35 million euros and has drawn interest from Juventus and Chelsea. Nota bene: Real Madrid’s scouts commonly monitor and take interest in players without it resulting in official communication between the sides. Real Madrid have Antonio Blanco, Eduardo Camavinga and Fede Valverde as players with a lot of defensive qualities who could conceivably play the pivot role in the future. Further, there are other pressing needs in terms of finding a new generation players, namely: right wing, right back, striker, and a maestro-style central midfielder.

Let’s take a poll on it.

Carvajal and Camavinga reportedly will be healthy for UCL and El Clasico.

This is positive news for Ancelotti given that already in this young season not having a proper, experienced right back has been been a problem for Los Blancos. Perhaps getting everybody back into their normal positions and rhythms is the solution to the run of poor play which saw Real Madrid losing to Sheriff and Espanyol. Real Madrid will attempt to put that week far into the rearview mirror.

Deschamps glows more about the play of Benzema

“Karim is essential,” Deschamps said after France beat Spain to win the Nations League on Sunday. “He has real quality, and he’s continuing to do what he does for Real Madrid with us.

“He wants to succeed and I’m happy for him. He was fundamental for us in this Nations league win.

“He has improved a lot. He’s more involved in the game, he’s in good form and he has matured. He’s been playing at his best for years now.”

Meanwhile, the momentum is building for Karim as a favorite for the Ballon d’Or. Personally, I have always considered it a silly award after it was not given to Sergio Ramos at the height of Real Madrid’s recent European dominance. But, Benzema is a legitimate candidate for best player in football by whatever standard we choose.

Meanwhile Karim has a cool-looking travel bag.

Gini Wijnaldum sends a message in a bottle from Paris

Request for some thoughts

If there is any interest in doing this, we could post some pieces by MM members in daily threads on critical subjects involving football and tactical matters. My first suggestion is the following (send to managingmadridmods@gmail.com).

Would Mbappe actually fit well at Real Madrid? In some detail why or why not?