# Vinícius Contract, Guler Sub Controversy, Endrick’s Rise, Perez Losing It? Real Madrid Roundup

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 29 Jan 2026, 31 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/114718202/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-29%2F417052863-44100-2-40d522a16713d.mp3

Sid and Xavier dive into the growing tension inside Real Madrid.We discuss Enzo Alves signing his first professional contract, Endrick exploding on loan in Lyon, and why his form is forcing uncomfortable questions about Madrid’s attacking hierarchy. From there, the conversation turns serious: Vinícius Jr.’s contract standoff, declining influence on the pitch, and how player power is beginning to fracture the locker room.We also break down: • Why Vinícius’ demands no longer match his output • How Arda Güler’s public frustration fits into a bigger pattern • Arbeloa’s role as a caretaker and why authority feels absent • The Trent Alexander-Arnold rumors and how misinformation spreads • Florentino Pérez’s shift from ruthless operator in the Ronaldo era to the current "club de amigos" vibes

## Transcript

[0:01] Well, welcome everyone to a news edition of The Real Deal
[0:04] podcast, where we're going to go over various news and
[0:07] information from the last week and then maybe briefly touch on
[0:10] how the internal dynamics at the club are looking with R below.
[0:13] And everyone, Xavier, welcome man.
[0:17] Glad to be here, Glad to be here.
[0:18] Back on the real deal as always. Midweek here we are.
[0:24] Roller coaster of emotions. The life of Rio.
[0:26] I'm a grid fan, huh? Life of a Real Madrid fan.
[0:30] Well said. Well, let's jump right into the
[0:33] news going on around the week. First thing you wanted to talk
[0:36] about Marcelo's son. First contract with the team,
[0:38] Yeah. Yeah, Enzo Alvarez signing his
[0:41] first professional contract. I think the club has extremely
[0:44] high hopes for the kid. I know we don't really have a a
[0:48] lone tracker per SE, but I think this is pertinent news just
[0:51] given how good he is. He's shown tremendous levels
[0:55] amongst the youth ranks that Real Madrid in his time here.
[0:58] Been here for a few years now, skipping multiple ranks.
[1:02] So excited about him. He's a striker.
[1:05] For those that don't know, he's also a part of the Spanish
[1:08] national team set up on the youth ranks as well.
[1:11] So look out for the kids. Stay tuned because he is
[1:13] extremely talented. Once again, Real Madrid might
[1:17] have another top level striker. We don't want to get ahead of
[1:20] ourselves, but want to look out for especially because if you
[1:24] remember, there's a famous video of him after US winning the
[1:27] Champions League in the locker room doing kick ups with every
[1:31] single Real Madrid player going all the way around the locker
[1:34] room. So you remember that video, it
[1:35] was about 10 years ago and he goes around with the ball and he
[1:38] does and, and literally every single player in the locker room
[1:41] and he just does, he goes all the way around.
[1:43] And that went pretty viral in Real Madrid social media, you
[1:46] know, about a decade ago for for us older folks, I guess now,
[1:49] right, follow this team for a while.
[1:52] And it's always good to see right when it's like the kids
[1:55] got that famous clip when he's younger and now he's going to
[1:59] the youth ranks within our club. And it's like, that's one of
[2:02] ours, right? Oh, and by the way, his dad is
[2:04] the best left back that's ever played for this club.
[2:07] So it's it's a cool story to follow, Enzo.
[2:10] Alvis is his name. I see and I'm curious to see how
[2:13] he turns out. Will he be like Enzo Zidane or
[2:15] will be a different? We'll, we'll see.
[2:20] But we'll see. Fingers crossed.
[2:21] He's not like Enzo Zidane, to be clear.
[2:23] Hopefully turns out better, but you never know.
[2:26] He's welcome to use our facilities and grow.
[2:27] That's all I know. Your your family here Marcel.
[2:30] Well, yeah. And if and if you look at, you
[2:32] know, his timeline, he's a few years after some breakout stars
[2:36] we're having across Europe right now who are in their either late
[2:41] teens or early 20s, having very, very successful loans out there.
[2:46] If you think Jacobo Ramon per SE at Cuomo, look at the way his
[2:51] trajectory has changed and his growth.
[2:54] And if Madrid's creating these conditions for that level of
[2:58] talent to continue to grow and develop, that only should bode
[3:02] well for a player like Enzo who's going to be able to take
[3:05] advantage of of this, right? Hopefully.
[3:07] And I'm excited. Now you're switching gears on in
[3:12] terms of loans and loan situations and and just
[3:14] development. Andrick hooking over at Lyon.
[3:18] He might he might just enter Golden Boot conversation, as
[3:21] they're saying and scored twenty in the second-half of the
[3:23] season. Like, wow.
[3:25] All right, so I, I have to be honest, I caved.
[3:29] I bought an Edric Leon kit. It's on its way in.
[3:32] I caved. I, I've been, it's funny because
[3:35] one of my, one of my good friends is a Brazil fan and he
[3:40] has been so excited ever since Edric landed at Real Madrid.
[3:44] All of last year. He was blaming Carlo for not
[3:48] giving enough chances. This year.
[3:49] The things he was saying about Chavi Alonso, I can't repeat on
[3:52] camera. So for, for him, he's like, he
[3:55] feels so justified and, and we made a bet.
[3:58] I told him if, if Edrick's loan actually went successful, I'd
[4:01] buy myself and him a kid. I came to ready and bought
[4:04] myself one because I'm like, all right, he's on four goals
[4:07] already. Like that's, that's a successful
[4:08] loan. We'll see how it.
[4:11] The. Rest of the season man.
[4:12] Have you heard from the Lyon fans?
[4:15] Does how much buzz he's creating in League on?
[4:19] No, he's, he's huge. And that's where I'm realizing
[4:23] how much of his potential we've barely, we haven't really tapped
[4:26] into who he is. Honestly watching him there I'm
[4:30] and just watching like the wingers we're platforming right
[4:33] now. Exactly like all of them.
[4:36] I don't care if you want 2 champions leagues or you're a
[4:38] young Argentinian who just signed like all of y'all are
[4:40] just bullshitting right now. Yeah, the real Slim Shady.
[4:42] Please stand up because whatever's happening on our
[4:46] right side, I'm watching Andrew and I'm like, that's a star in
[4:51] the making. Like if we had if we had a
[4:52] theoretical draft right now amongst our forwards.
[4:55] He might be second after Killian.
[4:57] Second after Killian, yeah. Exactly right, Like right after
[5:00] Killian I think Andrew could possibly be.
[5:03] Well, the one thing with him I'll say is, you know, I, I will
[5:07] say this and it, it kind of ties into like what we're doing at
[5:11] the club and the egos we're catering to.
[5:12] But even Arviloa probably can't balance the front 3 of Vinnie
[5:17] and Bapi Hendrick. And especially if you're
[5:19] throwing Jude and Arda and all those things around, I don't
[5:21] know what's going. On well.
[5:23] That and Hendrick, like he's not like Vinnie, he's a different
[5:27] player, but fundamentally he enjoys taking his risks when he
[5:30] wants, like Mbapi, all any attacker.
[5:32] And if you go back to the Man City game, we had a great
[5:35] sequence where everything was perfect and Andrick just had to
[5:38] lay it on the floor to Brahim and he just tries this audacious
[5:42] chip. You probably remember it or it
[5:43] was very famous. We got a million impressions on
[5:45] our tweet for it. And tactical tweets don't get
[5:47] impressions. That's OK.
[5:48] But I'm just saying, I think what happened was they're like,
[5:52] OK, like we can only give the ball away so much between
[5:55] Enrique, Vinny and Bape. And it's pretty clear, like
[5:58] whether Alonzo chose Enrique or not, it seems as an institution
[6:02] we've chosen what we want to do in terms of who we want to
[6:05] platform on this team, and that's Vinny.
[6:07] And do you want to kind of get into the Vinny contract
[6:10] situation and how that ties in? Here, Yeah, I just saw a stat
[6:14] that it's, it's kind of a shame here, but Vinicius Junior in the
[6:21] Champions League currently has as many goals as the goalkeeper
[6:24] from Ben Pica. So this is this is where we're
[6:29] at with the guy. He's a polarizing figure.
[6:35] I love Vinicius Junior. He's giving me great moments.
[6:38] Some of the best ever. I'll never forget if I have to
[6:41] think of an individual performance against Bayern and
[6:44] what he did to get to Kinect on camera should have been banned.
[6:50] But we have to be honest, we're with where we're at today and
[6:53] what we've seen over far too long of a period of time, and
[6:58] that is a lack of consistency, a lack of ability to reach the top
[7:04] level. Whatever happened before that
[7:08] Bolendor ceremony? Broke him.
[7:11] It, it, it broke him. And I, I, I'm rooting for the
[7:16] guy. I want him to succeed.
[7:17] I want him to find his form this season and bring us glory at the
[7:23] end. Like I want these things and I
[7:25] want to be clear. If not, they come back and
[7:27] attack us and say we have agendas.
[7:29] But we have to be honest. What he's asking for not only
[7:35] forget the money, the status, he wants to be a captain, he wants
[7:40] to have influence. And unfortunately, he's not
[7:45] matching those expectations right when you demand that
[7:50] salary, that status within the locker room, that type of
[7:53] influence. You can't have a thirty goal
[7:55] gap. You can't have a thirty goal gap
[7:56] with the top goal scorer. If you're asking for that.
[7:58] Like what? It's like all the stats.
[8:00] It's like Mbappe and everyone else.
[8:01] It's like you're not even A&B with him.
[8:03] You're not even like he's not even playing like a second
[8:06] option right now. He's playing like a fourth
[8:07] option that comes off the bench in per 90.
[8:09] Like he's he's playing like someone who deserves to be an
[8:11] impact sub. So is are we not closer on his
[8:15] contract? Is that is that what's
[8:16] happening? Like is he are we still trying
[8:20] to be stingy? Because it would make sense to
[8:21] me if Flo is like be nice to him just so I get him on the deal.
[8:24] I want. Like if Flo has a number that he
[8:26] feels good about, that's not like Vinny's my club de Amigos
[8:30] friend, like a real number that's reflected Vinny's
[8:32] performance is that. And is Vinny maybe he has that.
[8:35] And is Vinny not coming close to that?
[8:37] Vinny's like, no, I want the number that you would have given
[8:39] me before Rodri beat me to the bell and door.
[8:40] Is that what's going on? Yeah, well, like like I told you
[8:44] in the in the past it's been the same contract on the table,
[8:48] which is a slight increase on his current money.
[8:50] It's not the massive increase that he's asking for.
[8:53] I don't know the exact specifics, right.
[8:54] We're not negotiating. I know there's speculations.
[8:57] Folks have said $5,000,000, some increase every immigrants
[9:00] offering on his current salary and other folks are saying it's
[9:04] a €10 million increase that he's asking for and that the gap is
[9:08] XY and Z. All I know is is there is a
[9:12] contract on the table. It hasn't been rescinded and it
[9:15] hasn't changed. Vinny's camp continues to try to
[9:19] ask for more and more. And I believe they're the ones
[9:22] that bet on themselves and said, well, if you're not going to
[9:25] give me the money back in the summer, like I'm going to show
[9:27] you this season that I deserve the contract.
[9:31] And so far, I think the jury's out on whether he is, quote, UN
[9:35] quote, doing it 10 times harder and showing that he deserves
[9:39] more money. Our role, he's good.
[9:41] He's already getting more money on the new contract, by the way.
[9:44] It's. The amount by the amount.
[9:47] It sounds like it's he's at 17 to 18 now.
[9:49] The new one maybe gives him 20 and he wants like 232425.
[9:53] Whatever he can get there he wants.
[9:54] He wants to round. That yeah, yeah, he want he
[9:56] wants a higher amount than what's on the table for sure the
[9:58] and in principle he betted on himself this season like all
[10:02] professional athletes do when you're you know, in the
[10:05] conversations for best player and whatnot, right.
[10:08] They all bet on themselves. They don't.
[10:09] They don't sell themselves short, but most don't regress in
[10:14] their performances when it's time to negotiate.
[10:18] And divide the fan base and and he's objectively divided the fan
[10:21] base with the Alonzo incident like.
[10:22] Well, his his character's polarizing.
[10:24] And guess what? He it's been polarizing for a
[10:27] long time. It just never affected us
[10:29] internally. Because he didn't, he didn't
[10:30] direct it. He didn't direct it internally
[10:32] ever. Now for leverage, he started
[10:33] directing it at people and anyone who got in his way,
[10:36] people on his side are against the people who he's against.
[10:38] It's like you're either my enemy or on my side internally.
[10:41] And that's where, you know, when we talked about Arbolo's first
[10:44] game, we were hoping the Castilla guys were going to play
[10:46] more. We were hoping all that, but it
[10:49] looks like a Castilla guy is not going to come on if Vinny's not
[10:52] running late like just today, frankly, like he was on adding
[10:56] nothing. He was adding nothing against
[10:57] Albusete, but there was no Mbappe.
[10:58] So you keep your number one option now, right?
[11:00] Today, honestly, Guler, Rodrigo and Boppe were involved and it's
[11:03] like it it Guler came off to not today.
[11:06] Yesterday Guler comes off and says why always me now are it's
[11:11] I know Vinny doesn't have the I know he doesn't have the
[11:13] institutional credit, but are we going to let Guler like pick a
[11:16] fight with Arboloa? Anyone in the locker room who's
[11:19] has to now choose a side Arboloa Guler, Guler doesn't get subbed
[11:23] off when clearly the game demands it in the second-half
[11:26] for the next few months, Guler gets a new position that suits
[11:29] him tactically because he's mad. Like, I don't think we're going
[11:32] to get see any of that play out, but we already did with one
[11:34] player. And I just think the Manchester
[11:36] Unitedification of the club is seen a bit with our below.
[11:39] Like the way Perez clearly told him, hey, like, get Mini to sign
[11:43] the deal. Just do what you have to do.
[11:45] Like go suck everyone's Dick if you have to.
[11:47] Like, that's what I'm paying you for.
[11:49] And he's not doing the Castilla thing, right?
[11:51] That's clearly like he lost to Albicete.
[11:53] Now he's coaching for his job and appeasing the players,
[11:54] right? Yeah, I honestly, I don't even
[12:00] agree with the statement that he's coaching for his job.
[12:02] I don't think his his job's at risk because he's going to be
[12:05] here to the remainder of the season.
[12:07] But I also don't think he's a he's a long term pick and I
[12:09] think he knows that. So to your point, he's going to,
[12:14] he's going to do anything. To keep opportunities in
[12:16] football afloat in the future. Well, and to keep, you know, to
[12:19] keep him in good standing at Real Madrid, kind of what Solari
[12:23] did during his stint. And I'm not saying Arbolo is
[12:26] doing what Solori did, 'cause mostly come in, well, Solori did
[12:28] this and Arbolo is not doing that.
[12:30] I'm not debating that piece. I'm just saying these guys
[12:33] didn't come in here to ruffle feathers.
[12:35] They came in here to steady the ship for a certain period of
[12:39] time until the club could find the manager to bring in you.
[12:41] Know what's crazy though? Solari like didn't give a fuck.
[12:44] He played Vinnie, he benched Isco, he platformed.
[12:47] He went to war with Isco, you remember.
[12:48] That yeah, but this guy is like fucking going out drinking
[12:52] before the games with the players.
[12:53] I just. Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's an
[12:56] unorthodox approach that I don't like.
[12:58] And I thought if you can, you know, allow Vinny to feel
[13:05] comfortable in his playing environment.
[13:07] That's what got the best out of Vinny.
[13:09] Well, guess what? That'll get us results on the
[13:11] field for 90 minutes. That's all we really need,
[13:13] right? All we need is Vinny happy for
[13:15] 90 minutes on that field and and you can beat almost any team cuz
[13:18] he can cut through any tactic like a that like literally
[13:22] anybody else. That's the hypothesis.
[13:24] That's the hypothesis Perez and everyone's giving us, right?
[13:26] That's what they're feeding. Us right, right, right, but in
[13:30] reality, in principle, he has one goal in the Champions league
[13:32] this year and that's just not good enough.
[13:36] So my concern though is we you saw what happened with art of
[13:40] that today. I saw the clip.
[13:41] I can't even watch the game. However, if this is player
[13:45] number 2 now that is in front of the whole world watching on the
[13:50] showing in discipline. Yeah, there's.
[13:52] No cohesion. Nobody.
[13:53] Was showing in discipline. Artha's looking at the example
[13:56] of what happened back within October and said, well, he did
[13:59] it and now he's playing every game and every minute until the
[14:02] end. Maybe, maybe there's more for me
[14:05] now. Look, I'm not Artha Gulares.
[14:06] I'm not going to think for him. But what from the outside?
[14:09] When we set a bad example. Exactly.
[14:13] It's that simple. We set it.
[14:14] You set a bad precedence, you allowed potential bad behavior,
[14:19] and now there could be a domino effect to that.
[14:23] And, and again, I'm not here to debate.
[14:25] I'm on the head of the players. But when I'm watching a player
[14:27] come off the field and say YO is me, that's exactly what Vinny
[14:31] did in the Classico and I don't like any of this.
[14:33] Yeah, I don't either. And I just, I just think now,
[14:37] what, are they going to fire Arbiloa and bring it someone
[14:39] new? So Guler gets into line.
[14:40] Like the the whole line of reasoning that got us here is
[14:43] disappointing. Yeah, no, it's, it's a crazy
[14:46] situation. And you know, now that you
[14:48] pointed out that way, like I didn't even think about it that
[14:50] way. But he's looking at his fucking
[14:52] captain who's making 20 million a year, who led us to Champions
[14:55] League. All right, You're my role model.
[14:56] I want money like you. I want to be #1 option.
[14:58] Let me complete. I'm going to do what you did.
[15:00] And if I complain, I get promoted, right?
[15:02] Like I can fail upwards here apparently, right?
[15:04] That's how it works. That's that's the standard.
[15:07] And I mean, obviously it's not that extreme, but the point
[15:09] being is the jury's still out on like, who's really who really,
[15:15] when push comes to shove, has the weight.
[15:18] And OK, if if that weight is carried by different
[15:23] departments, it seems like when they're faced with adversity,
[15:29] they they fracture. There's no collectiveness.
[15:32] And I'm not talking about the games where everybody feels good
[15:35] and our below is came out pregame and said everything was
[15:37] my fault. I'm talking about we're of 1.
[15:40] Nothing against Benfica and we crumble and they completely just
[15:45] steamroll this team, right? That's the adversity that
[15:49] unfortunately this collective group of players has shown
[15:53] they're not able to handle. Over how long now A.
[15:57] Long time. How long can we go accepting
[16:00] mediocracy and a lack of consistency?
[16:04] Like I'm tired of it. Well, the one word is that Perez
[16:08] just is too soft on these guys because he's on his way out.
[16:11] He he wants to end on a good note where this guy was like,
[16:14] wasn't he like burning Redondo on his way out?
[16:17] If you want to speak to that, like, isn't that what happened?
[16:19] And Ronaldo too. Listen, you can hate or like
[16:22] Ronaldo at the end of the day, per 90, that guy was a menace
[16:25] and this dude treated him cold. Business calculated business
[16:29] relationship. There was no Buddy Buddy Club de
[16:32] Amigos, Ernesto Valverde, Messi busquettes decide how training
[16:35] is done or Messi busquettes tell Verde how training is done.
[16:38] There was none of that sense of player power at Real Madrid last
[16:42] decade. It's we threatened to sell him
[16:43] multiple times. We sold him for 100 million.
[16:46] Well, you also got to keep in mind Florentino didn't buy
[16:49] Redondo and he didn't buy Ronaldo.
[16:51] Those weren't his, those weren't his toys.
[16:54] And Florentino has a again, he didn't buy either player.
[16:59] This is how you know because he had a completely different.
[17:01] He didn't buy Javi Alonso, but he bought Sit On.
[17:04] OH, things are starting to add up for me here.
[17:09] Yes, but but again, at the same time, like, look, I love
[17:13] Florentino Perez, man. And I and I get it, I I get the
[17:17] frustration towards him to an extent.
[17:21] Do I agree with all of it? Absolutely not.
[17:23] I have to, I have to stand up for my president.
[17:25] Without him, I'd have a lot less Champions Leagues in my life.
[17:28] Like my dog has seen more Champions League institutions I
[17:33] want. I want to be clear, we don't
[17:34] regret having it here. It's just I think his peak arrow
[17:37] was ended with the three peaks. I think he's been stretching out
[17:40] the peak arrow and done a good job, the decent job, got a
[17:43] little lucky, but also, hey, you got to be good enough to get
[17:45] lucky. Yeah.
[17:46] I think as soon as Cruz left and, like, stop teaching our
[17:49] coaches, like, where to tell, like, egomaniacs to stand, which
[17:53] Cruz literally was doing. Cruz was telling Ronaldo to get
[17:55] the fuck off the ball. OK, Just like the first season
[17:57] of Cruz is Ronaldo's usage dropping down through the roof?
[18:01] So because Ronaldo had some bad possession tendencies before
[18:04] Cruz in my honest who's going? To tell him Boppy this to do the
[18:07] same thing, by the way. Nobody right?
[18:09] And well, that's what all I'm saying is like I love Perez, but
[18:12] I love the Perez that sold Ronaldo, built the three P team.
[18:14] I can't say I'm a big fan of the Perez of the last two years, of
[18:17] the last 18 months. I think I don't think like an
[18:20] executive is the same executive the whole time.
[18:24] And hey, it's end of the day, he's just gone all in on free
[18:26] transfers and young guys. And at some point you have to
[18:29] answer for it. But on the note of that and just
[18:32] answering for things and investments, what's going on
[18:34] with Trent Alexander Arnold? Oh man, talk about like the
[18:37] rumor mill turning into quote UN quote the most credible voice in
[18:44] in the transfer market having to come out publicly and deny it.
[18:48] And so essentially the rumors started out of publication in
[18:53] Catalunya that Arbelloa had told Trent that he wasn't part of his
[18:59] plans. And for the past couple weeks
[19:01] that when Trent was out, you heard rumblings here and there,
[19:04] like an article posted here and there a a comment or quote on
[19:07] timelines about Trent's unhappiness that like the
[19:11] everything wasn't a going, going according to plan, right?
[19:14] He was left out of plan. You heard those rumors, but then
[19:16] a specific one came out and got the Luna essentially say
[19:21] Arbelloa told him that he wasn't part of the plan, which that's
[19:26] how the day started. And by mid afternoon you're
[19:30] getting Fabrizio Romano himself coming out and downplaying the
[19:34] rumor, saying Real Madrid feel that Trent Alexander is fully
[19:39] part of their plans moving forward.
[19:41] So again, it goes from like some third party publication in, in
[19:46] Spain, right in Barcelona, who always puts out rumors about our
[19:50] players, right? It's got the Catalan
[19:52] publications, which is normal market.
[19:53] And the ones in Madrid do the same thing, right?
[19:57] For clubs in in Catalunya, we, we, they do it to each other.
[20:00] Let's be fair. But the fact that the rumor just
[20:04] like completely went viral across all socials.
[20:07] And that's the one thing about these types of narratives that
[20:11] get put out now with the power of social media.
[20:15] It's not just like the folks who who consume Real Madrid news
[20:19] every day that that are getting this.
[20:22] It's also the casuals, by the way, the ones who just like only
[20:25] TuneIn for a few games a year but like have but but like claim
[20:28] they're real. Madrid.
[20:30] So is the Trent rumor real or what?
[20:31] Like where did it come from? Is it all bullshit?
[20:33] Did someone make it up? It came from a publication in
[20:36] Catalunya, but the fact that Fabrizio came out himself and
[20:40] and literally had to say in exact quotes, right, like Real
[20:44] Madrid feels that Trent Alexander is part of their
[20:47] future plans. Hours Later tells you that it
[20:50] went that like how quickly these narratives can get pushed and
[20:54] then also put into the mainstream kind of thought
[20:59] process. It makes no logical sense.
[21:00] Like this guy's like sucking up to the egos of high salaried
[21:03] players. Trent is one of them.
[21:04] Like you're, you're not going to alienate him.
[21:06] You're you're literally going to platform him like Mbappe or
[21:08] Vinnie in my like that would be the logical thing.
[21:11] So yeah, it made no sense, but I will say the the injury
[21:14] situation with him has to stop. I'm just glad he doesn't
[21:18] dribble, man. Thank God he doesn't dribble.
[21:19] So when he comes back out, I agree.
[21:21] You, you still get his output because he it, you don't have to
[21:23] be super sharp to pass the fucking ball.
[21:26] It's like that's the, it's the one thing you can do.
[21:28] Like, you know, like you see the coaches like Alonzo and Zadan,
[21:31] even when they're not training, they can still put it on a
[21:33] platter when they're training with their players.
[21:35] And you know, that's the only reason I'm, I feel good about
[21:38] training because that's a lot of money otherwise.
[21:40] Well, and at some point, and we're going to wait till the end
[21:43] of the season to finally have the conversation, but we do have
[21:45] to grade last summer's transfer market and whether the OK,
[21:53] we'll, we'll leave it at that because I hate the word profile.
[21:55] It's way too popular and like trendy to use profiles now.
[21:59] Like everyone in Real Madrid social media or whatnot is, is
[22:03] claiming profiles now, right? It's like you need profiles.
[22:06] I'm like, OK, great. Like, but the folks who were
[22:08] telling you about this early on, right?
[22:11] Those folks, they've moved on. They understand that, right?
[22:13] They're having different conversations.
[22:14] You know. It's it's like now trendy for
[22:16] all, like, you know, all social media and everybody else.
[22:19] I I say social media because like I don't wanna save the
[22:21] casuals and whatnot, but everybody says it now, right?
[22:24] Even folks don't even watch our team or like you don't have the
[22:26] right fit in the midfield. It's like, yeah, you don't even
[22:28] watch Real Madrid though. So like that's that also tells
[22:31] me a little bit like the problem is OB.
[22:33] It's obvious what the problem is.
[22:37] There's nothing we can do about it right now though, because the
[22:39] club isn't going to go in the market.
[22:41] We are not, we are not the winter market specialists.
[22:44] They told us flat out. We'll have to go sign someone
[22:47] else. But all I'll say about last
[22:48] summer is I think every summer is going to look incomplete if
[22:51] you leave a couple holes in the squad.
[22:52] I don't think any summer can grade well if it's being created
[22:55] like didn't get us to success. And you can't get to success if
[22:58] you leave holes every summer. It's like like we had a series
[23:02] of incomplete summers before that where we just got away with
[23:05] it. Like when we didn't sign Cain
[23:06] and we hoped Jude would double his XG, which he did.
[23:09] And then in front of, you know, what if, what if Jude doesn't
[23:12] tap in some of those and we're in a dogfight in the league And
[23:15] maybe maybe the Champions League looks different because we're
[23:17] not rotating in April and May like.
[23:19] If the BAPA doesn't score 60 goals right, or like there's
[23:22] there's we're hinging on just too many outlier factors to go
[23:29] in our. Favor.
[23:31] And that's where the risk factor for me is uncomfortable.
[23:36] Now for other folks, they say this is, this is the Real Madrid
[23:40] way. This is how we operate.
[23:41] For me personally, I think we've gone past the point where like
[23:44] I'm OK with the this is the Real Madrid way to like, hey folks,
[23:49] there's. There's.
[23:50] Actually, like a lot of risk we should probably be thinking
[23:53] about. Well, a lot of the people doing
[23:55] that don't have a measure for probability is what I find.
[23:58] Like they'll say we're always here for outliers.
[24:01] I'm like, OK, but can you measure like how much of an
[24:04] outlier each season was? And no, like some seasons are
[24:08] maybe more similar. Like you could say, I don't
[24:11] know, 2018 was the luckiest of the three, but with the
[24:13] goalkeeper conditions, that was stupid.
[24:15] Dude that was retarded. Winning Champions League with
[24:18] Lunan is insane by the way. No, that, that was insane too.
[24:22] Well, I guess I just you got to have probability measures,
[24:24] that's all I'm saying. And like the reality is 2016 was
[24:27] a lot more probable than 2022 or 24.
[24:31] And if we win this season, honestly, like I'm just, that's
[24:35] what I was saying before, I'm struggling to envision it.
[24:37] Like what do teams just decide to let us have the ball?
[24:39] That's the only way I see us winning this season because as
[24:42] soon as they decide that we're what they want to contest it, we
[24:44] look like headless chickens. So.
[24:48] But also and and and they're and.
[24:50] I don't want to kill him today but man, that kid, we saw it
[24:55] from Bournemouth defending. I will say this, the only thing
[24:59] I'll say is this, yes he's bad, but he is honestly way too young
[25:02] isn't he? He's like 2 old, years younger
[25:04] than Ascencio. Let me just pull up his age.
[25:07] He's 20 years old, I believe. Right.
[25:09] He's 20. Ascencio age.
[25:12] Let's see, Raul Asencio is 2 years older than him, so I'll
[25:17] just say this. PSG also signed Ilya Zabarni
[25:20] from Bournemouth and that dude is 2 years older.
[25:23] I will give it to Ali. He came on the show in the fall.
[25:26] He's like, listen, Ilya was better than Dean and that's not
[25:29] a slide on Dean. Dean is a fucking teenager like
[25:31] last season in the Premier League.
[25:33] He's is a little young. Does he have flaws?
[25:36] Yes. Is he also immensely talented?
[25:38] Yes. Like we've seen him for Spain.
[25:39] Like he he, he can play the ball.
[25:42] I think Dean in many ways is a victim of how bad the build up
[25:45] is, where honestly, like Dean doing things sometimes is the
[25:49] only thing that works. But because of that, like
[25:53] because of that, he's just over tasked.
[25:54] But he's he's just overstretched.
[25:56] He has too much being asked for him and he's a touch slow.
[25:59] But I'll just say about Dean, you have to give him time.
[26:02] Like Militao. You remember how much time
[26:03] militao we got? I agree.
[26:06] That's why I'm I'm giving him room.
[26:09] I, I like a lot of our players right.
[26:11] There's this also the Porsche, the the the pitchfork, you know,
[26:17] Real Madrid side who are like sell 7-8 players.
[26:20] Everyone's terrible. They're not good enough.
[26:24] I also don't agree with that statement.
[26:26] Like I think we're few transfers, Yeah.
[26:30] And and when I say that, but I also think they have to be the
[26:32] right ones. We don't have margin for error
[26:34] like we used to. We can't, we can't like miss a
[26:36] striker and get the other profile and get away with it.
[26:39] That's not happening yet. Right, right.
[26:41] And the player that you identify in the position that you
[26:43] identify that we need get the right one with the right
[26:47] experience. For me, this is my big thing.
[26:49] We have enough projects that need two to three years to get
[26:52] into the player that they need to be great.
[26:55] We've invested hundreds of millions in these guys over the
[26:58] last couple years. Get me more of a steady hand in
[27:01] the midfield, whoever that is. Just get me somebody a little
[27:05] bit more on the experience side because these folks right now,
[27:11] they need someone on the field with them that can help them
[27:13] ease things up. Not just a player that has the
[27:16] characteristics, but also has some of the experience in these
[27:19] games and the wherewithal to just ease things up for a Vinnie
[27:24] and a Jude and an Arden. Right now, my fear again, like
[27:27] I, I like, I love Arthur Guler as a player, but he's still
[27:31] young. He doesn't have the experience
[27:34] yet to do it for Madrid at this level that we need him to.
[27:38] Like I, I'm just, I'm, I'm seeing a gap now.
[27:40] He's got those moments. He gives us the numbers.
[27:42] You look at the numbers, you're like, these numbers look great.
[27:45] But there's also where the eye test is important to understand.
[27:48] Hey, throughout the 90 minutes of a game, yes, a coach is going
[27:51] to give you these instructions. He's going to put you next to
[27:53] certain players. But individually, there's a
[27:56] there's a, there's a floor of a Real Madrid player that we
[27:59] should all expect no matter what.
[28:02] Now we can debate the ceiling, right?
[28:03] How good you are? Well, Florentino just texted me
[28:06] after hearing what you said, He said.
[28:08] Keith Smith, Nico Paz and Kima Andres are the experienced heads
[28:12] coming in this summer. Can't wait.
[28:15] I think that's the fear of this summer.
[28:16] If we go sign young, we're screwed.
[28:18] It's it's like we're ending. We're entering an era of just
[28:20] being a banter club. If we keep signing young, this
[28:22] summer is the fear for sure. Listen, it's gonna be
[28:26] interesting where we go, but looking forward to Key Smith
[28:30] coming up and shoring up the experience.
[28:32] Hey, we're getting to Briana. Don't worry.
[28:34] The next to Briana. Yeah, yeah, the next to Briana.
[28:37] I mean, shit, he should go. He's gonna sign the next mess.
[28:39] He's gonna sign the next everyone but the next.
[28:41] The next. The next?
[28:42] Yeah, yeah, the next, not the noun.
[28:45] Right. No, that's honestly the joke
[28:47] going around that we're literally going to sign Key
[28:49] Smith, bring Keema in, Nico Paz because they're all low cost,
[28:52] right? Or low cost or they fit the
[28:54] strategy of we can sell them for more later.
[28:56] So. Look, low cost and young and
[28:58] we're going to be here debating why aren't they consistent?
[29:01] I mean, hey, Perez is going to Perez is counter arguments like,
[29:04] hey, I signed Trent and Hazard. They didn't work.
[29:05] I'm not signing anyone of their prime ever again.
[29:07] Honestly, that's because I hate to say it, every day transferred
[29:10] is another day. Perez is just going to like,
[29:12] he's just so perfectionist, this guy, he's so perfectionist.
[29:15] So I just don't think he's gonna go and actually go sign the Cruz
[29:19] and the Modrich equivalent that from 10 years ago.
[29:21] The old Modrich was 28. Cruz had won a treble already.
[29:25] You know, I don't know if he's gonna go find someone like that.
[29:27] So you know what? That's why I hate to say it but
[29:30] I actually think signing like Rodri, even if he gets hurt a
[29:33] little, could just help for that one reason like the guy at
[29:37] least. I told you the guy I want, I
[29:39] want the guy at Chelsea. Yeah, yeah, Enzo, listen, Anzo
[29:42] couldn't do it. They still, Rosenhur is still
[29:44] playing as a box to box. What a dumb man.
[29:46] Like, you know, I thought he was smart, but he's just another
[29:48] English coach. He's a stupid English coach.
[29:50] Play him in a double pivot the guy has and this is what I again
[29:54] what we need in this squad. I want players with cojones man.
[29:58] It's the age-old the spirit of Juanito.
[30:02] I didn't forget about it like the the guy that spirit we
[30:07] should never forget about is my lady.
[30:09] This does and and that's what I hope to bring back to this club.
[30:13] Sounds good man Well, we thanks for touching on all the news
[30:16] with us Xavier and well everyone I know that was a bad result and
[30:20] we had to do this follow up for you guys to decompress further.
[30:23] We will be back over the weekend.
[30:25] Keep liking subscribing commenting.
[30:27] Let us know. I think we got the audio balance
[30:29] right on this one listen, we're we're doing our best here and we
[30:32] will be back for the weekend show.
[30:34] Thank you all for tuning to the Real deal.
[30:35] Smart Madridistas. Real Madridistas make Madre
[30:38] vistas, whatever they call you. See you all next time.

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