Real Madrid News
Real Madrid star makes big claim about the club’s midfield unit: “Best in the world”
After a difficult second half of the 2022/23 campaign, Aurelien Tchouameni is making his presence felt at Real Madrid once again.
The French midfielder has participated in all three of Los Blancos’ pre-season games so far this campaign and even played the full 90 minutes against Barcelona in the recent Clasico.
Carlo Ancelotti trusts the youngster to handle the defensive midfield for the upcoming campaign. So far, his performances this term have been promising.
Recently, Tchouameni spoke about the talent in the squad and the pres-eason campaign in an interview relayed by MARCA.
The French starlet insisted that Real Madrid had the best midfield in the world and highlighted the diverse profiles Ancelotti had at his disposal.
“I think we have the best midfield in the world, with legends like Luka and Toni. We learn from them every day,” he said.
“We also have young people who have an incredible level like Bellingham, Camavinga, Valverde, Ceballos and me. We’re going to do well this season.”
Talking about the intensity of the group in the pre-season, both in training and in the fixtures, he said:
“We are working well these days with Pintus and the coaching staff, we are happy. We are not playing friendly matches because we are playing against good teams and we want to do well. We are working very well in training and we want to do the same in the matches.”
Real Madrid have won two of their three pre-season games so far this campaign but ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 Clasico defeat at the weekend. Commenting on the overall form of the team, Tchouameni said:
“We are playing well in the pre-season. We use a new system and we have to learn every day how to play in this system. We have an incredible team and I’m sure we’re going to have an incredible season.”
The youngster then commented on his individual performances so far this campaign and highlighted the work he has been putting behind the scenes, saying:
“I feel good with the team and I think I’ve done a good job. In addition, on vacation, I worked a lot with a physical trainer. I feel good on the field, we want to play well and improve every day.”
Life at Real Madrid has gotten off to a rather torrid start for Turkish starlet Arda Guler, who has already faced a large number of setbacks since singing for Los Blancos.
Aged just 18, the winger-slash-midfielder has already picked up seven injuries in his senior career, which is cause for serious concern, especially since a couple of them have affected his ligaments – which is always bad news.
Hotly-tipped to be an exciting addition to the Madrid squad going forward, the youngster had to drop out of their pre-season tour early due to a meniscus injury.
This was treated conservatively, but after that did not yield good results, he had to undergo a procedure and seemed set to make the squad against Las Palmas, before another injury setback.
According to Diario AS, the new problem can keep him out for three weeks to a month, which means his Real Madrid debut may have to wait till early November, after the first El Clasico of the season on 28th October.
Guler’s history of fitness problems
In their report, AS also state that the Turkish teenager seems to have a propensity for injuries, accumulating seven of them in his career already.
There is also word going around that his recovery from this meniscus issue was rushed and not handled adequately.
That, combined with a stroke of bad luck means Real Madrid have to be very mindful of how Guler is reintegrated into the squad going forward.
This new injury is reportedly a thigh problem which will also need to be treated with caution.
A special recovery plan
Carlo Ancelotti stated before and after the Las Palmas clash that the plan was for Guler to have some minutes against the Canary Islanders, but he said that genetics, luck and a lack of sharpness have a big part to play in this relapse.
The Italian manager did say that this issue is not as serious, but all signs indicate that there is an urgent need to work on the youngster’s conditioning.
AS thus say that a specific plan has been devised since the summer to enhance Guler’s fitness and his resistance.
This is a programme that is reportedly similar to the one Rodrygo followed when he arrived from Brazil, much thinner than he is today, but without having sacrificed his football qualities.
