Real Madrid News
La Liga rivals open to selling Barcelona target to Real Madrid – report
The saga of Julian Alvarez’s future with Atletico Madrid has taken a steep turn in recent days, with the player’s public admission of a desire to leave the club acting as a pivotal point.
His announcement came completely out of the blue after Argentina’s win over Austria, and arrived as a public plea for the club to allow him to leave.
There is much speculation that the player came out to make the said admission at the demand of Barcelona, who required an effort from his side to progress with the negotiations.
Atletico Madrid, however, are firmly against selling the player to the Catalans under any circumstances and are even considering legal action.
Real Madrid are an option
One of Atletico Madrid’s biggest arguments against selling the player to Barcelona is that they refuse to strengthen a direct rival.
It would be a sporting disaster and an even more difficult decision to explain to the fans.
El Chiringuito, however, have now come forward with a surprising update that changes the narrative completely.
According to the Spanish outlet, Atletico Madrid are not opposed to selling the player to Real Madrid despite them being a direct rival as well.
What this only means is that Los Rojiblancos see more aversion to the Catalan side now, even more than they resent Real Madrid.
Los Blancos, moreover, tabled an offer of €150 million for the player immediately after the presidential election result and the proposal was turned down at the time.
That number, needless to say, is the biggest standing offer that Atletico Madrid have for the departure-seeking striker and they could well look to cash in when still possible.
A question of need
Real Madrid may indeed have tabled an offer for Alvarez earlier this month, but that does not mean that the club want or need the signing.
It appears that Florentino Perez and Atletico Madrid conspired on an intelligent ploy at the time to kill two birds with one stone – fulfil Perez’s promise of a Galactico offer and deter Barcelona from Alvarez’s pursuit.
Real Madrid currently have no intention of making a bid for Alvarez as matters stand, and that stance is unlikely to change given how they already have the centre-forward department well covered. Atletico Madrid’s willingness to sell, thus, may not prove significant.
Kylian Mbappe’s blistering start to the season has already hit its first bump, with the Real Madrid forward’s missed penalty against Real Betis exposing an area of his game that has historically been less reliable.
Mbappe had given Madrid fans plenty of reasons for optimism in the opening weeks.
He scored a hat-trick against Real Sociedad before finding the net again against Malaga, making it four goals across his first three matches of the season.
The performance against Betis, though, was a different story.
Mbappe struggled to make the same impact and then missed an injury-time penalty, with Alvaro Valles making the save as Madrid eventually suffered a 0-1 defeat.
Mbappe’s penalty numbers make uncomfortable reading
Mbappe’s latest miss adds to a record that is far from elite when compared with some of Real Madrid’s previous specialists.
Including the Betis penalty, Mbappe has now missed 16 of the 81 penalties he has taken during his career, excluding shoot-outs. That represents a failure rate of 19.7%.
His numbers with Real Madrid are even less convincing, having converted 19 of 24 penalties for the club, meaning his miss rate stands at 20.8%, effectively one missed penalty in every five attempts.
Mbappe’s record compared with Madrid legends
The comparison with Real Madrid’s previous penalty takers provides better context.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed only 13 of his 92 penalties, giving him a miss rate of 14.1%. Sergio Ramos was considerably more dependable, missing just one of his 23 attempts, which is a rate of 4.3%.
All three sets of figures exclude penalty shoot-outs, making the comparison more relevant to normal match situations.
Mbappe therefore has work to do if he is to reach the level of reliability expected from a team’s primary penalty taker.
Sure, his overall goalscoring numbers remain outstanding, but penalties are an important part of that production.
Mourinho should keep faith with Mbappe
Meanwhile, there is little reason for Jose Mourinho or the Real Madrid dressing room to lose confidence in Mbappe because of one miss on matchday four.
His opening performances, particularly the hat-trick against Real Sociedad, provide ample evidence of his quality, and the greater concern may be psychological rather than tactical.
Mbappe’s confidence from the spot will be worth watching, especially because of what he is chasing this season.
The Ballon d’Or, Pichichi and Golden Boot are all among his ambitions, and penalties offer a valuable route towards the goals required for those prizes.
