Real Madrid News
Former Real Madrid sporting director warns the club about tough summer decisions – ‘Can’t make a team in one summer’
Predrag Mijatovic, a former Real Madrid striker who also acted as the club’s sporting director for three seasons, has offered his insight into the club’s current transfer situation.
Speaking about the challenges ahead, Mijatovic explained that Real Madrid must prepare for a summer of difficult choices, especially when it comes to managing the futures of key players.
“When you have to renew the team and look for the new Modric, Kroos and Casemiro… you can’t remake the team in one summer,” Mijatovic said.
“The team has to make several important decisions this summer . If Vinicius, Mbappe or Rodrygo are not happy and do not feel the support of the club, they cannot perform.”
Mijatovic also questioned the current relationship between Vinicius Jr. and the Real Madrid fanbase.
“I don’t know if the fans are as in love with Vinicius as they were two or three years ago, or if he has as much respect for them as he did then .”
Warning against hoarding talent without a clear plan
The former Madrid director also warned that stockpiling expensive talent without a clear strategy can backfire.
Mijatovic explained that when clubs accumulate players with huge market value but don’t give them regular roles, it often leads to frustration.
“I keep saying it, accumulating great players, with a lot of market value, is always counterproductive,” he said.
“You have an asset that’s worth a lot, but you don’t get the most out of it.
“As the months go by, the player isn’t happy, and you don’t know if you will be able to sell him the following year,” he added.
In this sense, Real Madrid do have the case of Rodrygo to take note of. The Brazilian does not seem to have a place in the current squad but they also do not want to lose him for a low transfer fee.
Source: AS
Real Madrid’s adventure so far under new coach Jose Mourinho has been far from perfect and this fact shouldn’t be lost even after the team’s brilliant comeback win over AS Roma in midweek.
However, there are areas where Los Blancos have shown a clear improvement under Mourinho, when compared to previous bosses such as Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.
One of those areas has been set plays, with Real Madrid appearing far more potent from set pieces this season.
A clear improvement from last season
As reported by Diario AS, the three goals in Rome, all from Arda Guler corners inside a seven-minute blitz, were the perfect advert for the work being done at Valdebebas.
Those strikes took Real Madrid’s set-piece tally to seven goals in just ten matches this season. Four of them have come in La Liga, one from a corner and three from free kicks, with the trio in Rome completing the haul.
It is a striking figure when set against last season’s return. Under Alonso and Arbeloa, Madrid managed 12 set-piece goals across the entire campaign, all in La Liga, split evenly between six from corners and six from free kicks.
On current trends, this side looks well placed to surpass that number comfortably.
The reason behind Real Madrid’s improvement
Attacking set pieces are led at Valdebebas by Pedro Machado, with the whole coaching staff involved and Mourinho himself giving the final green light on every routine.
Defending them, meanwhile, falls to Sami Khedira, though it is treated as a collective effort. Mourinho’s appreciation of that teamwork was clear when Bellingham headed in a Guler free kick against Espanyol, prompting the manager to leap up and embrace his assistants.
Machado, one of Mourinho’s most trusted lieutenants, has followed him from Fenerbahce to Benfica and now Madrid, part of a backroom team blending experience with young, ambitious talent.
On the pitch, Guler is the undisputed master when available, his left foot the key weapon, with Bernardo Silva, Trent Alexander-Arnold and even Diomande also trusted to initiate attacks.
Such meticulous strategy has helped Real Madrid turn into a potent side from set-pieces this season.
