For all intents and purposes, Real Madrid replaced Karim Benzema, a 35-year-old center-forward, with Jude Bellingham, a 20-year-old midfielder, last season and won the Champions League. In theory, that shouldn’t make any sense, but this is Madrid’s universe. Whatever they do is probably going to work.
We are living in an era of Premier League dominance. A large percentage of money in soccer either flows into or out of England. According to Deloitte’s annual figures, the Premier League housed six of the 10 clubs that made more than €500 million last year, with Manchester United topping €700m and Manchester City topping €800m. Even this summer, with Premier League teams trying to understand (and/or skate around) new profit and sustainability rules, most of Europe’s biggest transfer moves have come from London, Manchester and Birmingham, England’s three richest cities.
As tilted as the soccer world may be toward England, however, Madrid always has the final say. Real Madrid won its sixth Champions League title in 11 years on June 1. The very next day, they announced they were signing Kylian Mbappé, the best available player in the world. He is probably soccer’s best left-sided attacker, and he’ll now be asked to play with Vinícius Júnior, probably soccer’s second-best left-sided attacker. They gravitate toward almost the exact same places on the pitch.
This could be an awkward fit. And since Real Madrid are the ones attempting it, it will almost certainly work.
As the 2024-25 club season rapidly approaches, let’s talk about what awaits Mbappé and some of the other big names that changed teams this summer. What strengths do they bring to their new teams? What can or should be expected of them?
Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid
• Primary 2023-24 stats (all competitions): 48 matches, 3,868 minutes, 44 goals from shots worth 36.9 xG, 10 assists from 79 chances created
There was a years-long run-up to the biggest transfer of the summer, with Real Madrid pursuing Mbappé for about half a decade and getting publicly spurned two years ago. It was obviously going to happen, and then it wasn’t … and then it just sort of did. There was no transfer fee to negotiate because Mbappé’s contract at Paris Saint-Germain was expiring; he just announced he was leaving, and Real Madrid announced he was coming, and that was that.
Now we get to see how this forever-anticipated move will actually work.
Last we saw Real Madrid in the Champions League final, they were lining up in a 4-3-1-2 of sorts, with Vinicius and Rodrygo serving as left- and right-sided forwards. They played more narrowly than they had when Benzema was roaming in the middle in more of a 4-3-3. Eduardo Camavinga was the primary pivot man, with Toni Kroos to his left in midfield and Federico Valverde — who had lined up as right winger in the 2022 Champions League final — a bit more advanced to the right.
Even with injuries (and occasionally age) playing a major role in lineup selection at times, Real Madrid spent most of 2023-24 in a shape like this, be it a 4-3-1-2, a 4-4-2 diamond, a more straightforward 4-4-2 or a 4-2-2-2. Aurélien Tchouaméni often started ahead of Camavinga (who sometimes moved to full-back) when healthy, and there was always a spot for 38-year-old string-puller Luka Modric, who played in 46 matches (23 starts, 23 substitute appearances). But the idea was basically the same: There was always a back four, and Bellingham was always marauding as half-midfielder, half-Benzema.
The secret to Real Madrid’s recent success is raw talent and flexibility. Valverde and Camavinga can play just about anywhere, and Bellingham indeed plays two positions at once. When head coach Carlo Ancelotti has to make a general structural change, like moving from a 4-3-3 to something more 4-4-2ish, he’ll do so, and he’ll trust his absurdly versatile and talented charges to figure it out. Eventually, they do.
It would seem Ancelotti has one primary decision to make when it comes to how Real Madrid line up this season: Do you stick with something 4-4-2ish, with Mbappé simply replacing Rodrygo in the lineup, or do you move back toward a 4-3-3, with Mbappé slotting in as a center-forward and Bellingham moving back a bit in midfield? The latter seems the most logical, as Mbappé played as a center-forward for a majority of last season, Bellingham hadn’t really played in such an advanced position until last year, and Rodrygo (17 goals and eight assists in all competitions) has more than earned the right to remain in the lineup.
If that is indeed what Ancelotti chooses, it might most directly impact Bellingham’s stats. Over his final two seasons at Borussia Dortmund, Bellingham averaged 10 goals and 9.5 assists per season in all competitions before erupting for 23 and 13 in his Madrid debut. Mbappé might end up with some of his opportunities.
No matter the formation and specific positions, however, Ancelotti will be asking Mbappé and Vinicius to figure out how to operate together in the same spaces. As individually talented as they are, they indeed gravitate toward the same areas of the pitch in attack.