Woah, Nellie! : 2 June 2023

The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

Shoutout to the mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, Juninho, NeRObutBlanco and yours truly, Kung_Fu_Zizou

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Silly season has already reached fever pitch with all the stories about Real Madrid. It becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain what information is credible and what is noise for engagement. A lot of the rumours come from the mere mentioning of names taken without context. For now, I take largely what Fabrizio says, what the players say and what clubs themselves say. Of course is reports are not being contradicted and are repeated on trusted media outlets we have to take the seriously.

Karim on ice..

Karim Benzema has yet to clear up his situation. Real Madrid have supposedly had a contract ready for him since 2022. So far it seems the announcements will starts to flow after the last game of the season.

The club will have all of the transfer window to host farewell functions for any significant departures. We will have to be patient.

The RW/CAM Trade-offs

Photo by Fermin Rodriguez/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Nico Paz is the Asensio replacement everyone is looking for. He does not have the experience Asensio had when he joined but good enough is old enough. The teenager could play the role Asensio has had since 2016/17. Worse case scenario, it doesn’t work out but the club didn’t have to pay anything.

The club has focused so much on cashing in on youth players that they’ve forgotten that they can actually promote youth players to build the first team squad.

An example of the myopia is how the club is linked with the likes of Havertz when we have Nico Paz. No disrespect to Havertz but what Real Madrid fan wouldn’t take Nico Paz over Havertz under the circumstances? And yet..

Se Queda

Luka Modric has never made any bones about his desire to stay at the club for life. Until Real Madrid announce his departure, we can count on Modric to try everything to continue his stay at the Bernabeu.

Interesting angles

If Real Madrid sign Bellingham, they add a ball carrier. Fran Garcia is a strong ball carrier as well. Camavinga and Vinicius are already well documented. Fede Valverde does not do it enough but he’s very good at it. This could change the approach to breaking down opponents by carrying the ball more instead of relying on passing lanes which we’ve seen consitently clogged in La Liga

Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images

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