Real Madrid news has seen the club’s boss Zinedine Zidane revert to using his old guard in recent months and side-line the most promising talent at the club.
That is said by a report in El Mundo Deportivo to be a growing source of conflict between the club and the manager, who hold different views on which players should be deployed.
The club’s transfer policy in recent years has seen a focus on signing young talent – Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes, Martin Odegaard, Brahim Diaz, Andriy Lunin, Reinier and Takefusa Kubo.
However, only established signings such as Thibaut Courtois, Ferland Mendy and Eden Hazard have become regulars in the side since Zidane’s return to the club in March 2019.
Raphael Varane and Lucas Vazquez have both started in 16 successive matches, Courtois has been ever-present all season while Toni Kroos has played 14 games in a row, Luka Modric has been involved in 15 of the last 16 while Casemiro is also an ever-present for Los Blancos.
Karim Benzema has started 10 games in a row since being unavailable with a muscular injury while Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal and Hazard are almost always selected when fit.
Eder Militao, Nacho Fernandez, Marcelo, Alvaro Odriozola and Mariano Diaz are among the players not getting minutes, while Luka Jovic scored twice on his return to Eintracht Frankfurt after being a peripheral figure in Madrid.
Madrid’s team now is almost exactly the same as it was when Zidane left in 2018 with only minimal changes – and the club are said to want a faster transformation.