It may not appear to be the most logical initial conclusion, but Real Madrid’s ban from signing players until the summer of 2017 could well prove to be a blessing in disguise for Los Blancos. For once, club president Florentino Perez – the creator of the Galacticos concept – will be forced to rein in his natural instinct to buy, buy and buy again.
Every summer, Perez loves nothing more than underscoring his own and his club’s high-rolling status by splashing out on another global superstar – regardless of whether or not they actually meet the requirements of the Los Blancos squad at the time.
Inevitably, that approach often serves to undermine whatever progress might have been made in terms of a clear tactical direction, taking the team backwards rather than forwards.
Now, though, the Galacticos policy will have to take an enforced hibernation as Madrid find themselves temporarily removed from the race to sign Paul Pogba, Eden Hazard, Robert Lewandowski or anyone else who catches the eye in the next few months.
In turn, Madrid will be highly reluctant to allow any of their current players to leave when they can’t sign anyone to replace them.
That means manager Zinedine Zidane – assuming Perez doesn’t perform one of his about-turns and fire him – will be forced to, or perhaps allowed to, do the thing which coaches should probably do more often: work hard to get the most out of the players at their disposal. And the players at Zidane’s disposal, let’s face it, are pretty exceptional.
Cristiano Ronaldo (who, we can now assume, will not be joining Paris Saint-Germain), Gareth Bale (who will not be joining Manchester United) and Karim Benzema have already shown they can score goals against any opposition.
Supplying them, James Rodriguez and Isco can look ahead to the next 18 months with renewed confidence that they will not become the latest Mesut Ozil or Angel Di Maria, playmakers crudely jettisoned by Perez because their face no longer fits.
In the engine room, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are widely regarded as two of the best central midfielders in the world, with rising young stars Casemiro and Mateo Kovacic offering contrasting options when required.
Defenders Dani Carvajal, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane would find themselves named in many people’s World XIs, and goalkeeper Keylor Navas has been nothing short of outstanding since replacing Iker Casillas. So it’s clear that Madrid’s raw materials are very good indeed, and now it is the task of Zidane and his coaching staff to mould them into the world-class final product we all know they are capable of becoming.
Quality has never been a problem for Real Madrid in the last few years; the problem has been a lack of stability, and now that very thing has been foisted upon them. Perez, for once, cannot interfere by throwing into the mix another costly superstar who would demand more than his fair share of playing time and, for a squad which already possesses all the talent it needs, that could prove to be the ideal scenario.
For many years, many Madrid fans and impartial observers have frequently ridiculed the Galacticos policy at the Bernabeu and called for Perez to abandon it. Now we can see what happens when he is forced to.
