Are Real Madrid finally learning from past mistakes?
By: Enzo Karema
And in the blink of an eye, Éder Militão has made himself an integral part of the Real Madrid first-team, playing with the splendour he had at FC Porto that convinced Florentino Pérez to splash the cash for him. Roll back to a little over a month ago, some didn’t believe he was ready to be here after his displays earlier in the season, but if he were to be sold now, it’d seem an inexcusable blunder.
From looking like a bargain to a rip-off and a bargain again. Militão took the opportunity to expose all myths regarding him while Raphaël Varane and Sergio Ramos were unavailable in the best possible way, and can hence be relied on by Zinedine Zidane during this end of the season. Additionally, he has probably saved Real Madrid financially a lot, making the club feel it shouldn’t have to spend on Jules Koundé or Pau Torres to replace Sergio Ramos.
Similarly, Antonio Blanco, in only 3 first-team appearances, has reportedly cleared all possibilities of the club trying to bring in Eduardo Camavinga. The 18-year-old was set to cost over €50 million, but the possibilities of him playing in the capital of Spain next season — whether it’s for less money or not — have drastically faded away.
Miguel Gutiérrez has only played 2 league games with the first-team, and unlike Blanco he’s yet to start any, but is expected to be Ferland Mendy’s number 2 next season should Marcelo wave Los Blancos goodbye in the summer. For many years, Pérez has tried to fix all problems that have come our way by purchasing big names, like Eden Hazard in 2019 to fill the gap Cristiano Ronaldo left. However, today, it’s smart signings like Militão or Ferland Mendy and La Fábrica, which he has predominantly used for business in recent times, that have rescued us.
It’s in this club’s rich history to always want the best players in the world either to build or join in the building of a project, but through prioritising that this century, it has made errors and let valuable money go to waste. Nonetheless, the fact that Mendy, Militão, Gutiérrez, Blanco, Martin Ødegaard and Fede Valverde seem to have a future here proves that lessons have been learnt from the errors. And, as it stands, Zidane can be thanked for this. If the future looks promising, it’s because better decisions have been made.
