Interview conducted with Lucky Block.
Former Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United forward Michael Owen believes that Kylian Mbappe might be the missing piece of the Real Madrid jigsaw. Los Blancos have been setting the pace in Spain this season off the back of Jude Bellingham’s goals, but in his view, their domestic form has papered over one major crack.
Owen spent a year in the Spanish capital during the Galactico era, and was competing for his spot with the likes of Raul Gonzalez, Fernando Morientes and Ronaldo Nazario. In a year that saw Los Blancos change managers three times as they tried to finsd the right balance, Football España asked Owen how Kylian Mbappe’s potential arrival could impact their side next season.
“As everyone has been saying since Karim Benzema left, Madrid are without a focal point striker who is going to score a load of goals and that is probably the glaring hole in their team, even though they are still doing well.”
“I would suggest that a lot of that is down to Barcelona slipping away, and they could win La Liga at a canter really without a recognised striker, the big question is if they can go and win the Champions League.”
“They’ve certainly got a team now that has gone from an aging team two or three years ago to now looking young and vibrant and it looks like it could be here to stay. Manchester City, Liverpool and Real Madrid have just been locking horns now for the foreseeable maybe and that position looks like a big piece of the jigsaw at Real Madrid.”
In terms of how Kylian Mbappe might fit into that if he does arrive this summer, and Owen is certain that he will play down the middle, even if he does prefer to come off the left.
“Mbappe can play off the left but with Vinicius Junior there you would think that he is going to play down the middle and it could be an unbelievable strike force with Jude Bellingham in behind and playing off him, it could be an unbelievable team. But it will need to be unbelievable because Manchester City and Liverpool, for that matter, have set some real high standards at the moment.”
“Real Madrid know how good City are, they were smashed by them last season and the season before when they squirmed past them they were beaten pretty convincingly then as well, I don’t know how they got past them but they would’ve walked off that pitching thinking City were unbelievable and a better team at that time and they probably still are.”
However the former Real Madrid forward believes the Frenchman could close the gap to City.
“But signing Mbappe is a great leveler, he is unbelievable so I don’t think him fitting in will be a massive problem for Real Madrid, they have a glaring hole there and they need a centre forward to score a load of goals, so why not go and pick the best one in the world and that’s what they’ve done.”
There has been plenty of conversation about Mbappe’s potential positional clash with Vinicius, with some even suggesting the Brazilian might be sold in order to allow Mbappe to play in his favoured role. Carlo Ancelotti is an expert in handling the biggest egos in the game though, and the fact Mbappe is somewhat arriving in a capacity where he is attempting to make nice with the Madrid media and fans, as a result of leaving them at the altar two years ago, might give the Italian a touch more power to do as he pleases with Mbappe.
Image via Afp7 / Europa Press. This inter
Just imagine what he will do with bribELona PAHAHAHAHAH 🫵🤣
Owen carries a grudge against Real Madrid due to him being shipped out after a single season. He is a poor analyst in general but all his comments about Madrid stem from the grudge. His position that Man City are so much better is just based on the style of football – but we all know that the final result in a game is not dependant on style. Neither are trophies. If it was then MC would have won a lot more Champions Leagues than the single one where Madrid were riddled by injuries (and the core midfield in that 0-4 loss was an aging Kroos/Modric). Yes, they have been winning in the EPL but even there they are not undisputed. It seems that the manner of Madrid’s last CL win still rankles English fans… we left all the EPL big boys in the dust. Keep underestimating us…. the game goes for 90 minutes and this time around we have re-inforcements (but still decimated by injuries).