Two years ago now, Real Madrid decided to pay 20 million plus 8 million bonuses to recover the young Arda Guller from Fenerbahçe. Then aged 18, the Turkish international knew that it was first necessary to go a few steps before being able to win in a very high level club. Regularly injured for his first season, he had still been able to show beautiful things in the final sprint in Liga and we were now waiting for confirmation on this exercise 2024-2025.
But for the moment, Arda Guller is hard and should only be satisfied with crumbs. Logically crossed by competition in attack, the 20 -year -old winger played 36 games this season, but with only 13 starts. Not enough to really illustrate even if he has scored 4 goals and delivered 7 assists. Precisely this Wednesday, he was holder against Getafe and he seized his luck since he scored the only goal of the meeting, therefore offering the three points to his team. Except that a small feature, Carlo Ancelotti decided to align it in the three of them in the middle and no longer in the three attackers.
Brilliant
And in this role, Guller was rather brilliant. According to AS's information, Carlo Ancelotti also sees a future to Gulle as a new … Toni Kroos! The Italian coach was also very complimentary at a press conference. “He played as an inner midfielder and he did it in his own way. Well, with quality. With an idea and a lot of tranquility. (…) If we go out in 4-4-2, he cannot go out in a double pivot, so the only thing he can occupy is the right wing in this system. But if we play in 4-3-3, like today, it can very well do as an inner midfielder, a relay. Because he's a hard -working player. It obviously lacks a little strength in duels, but it has a lot of qualities. And I'm not saying this only because of the goal he scored this evening, but because of his management of the match. I think that his future will be lower in the field. Imagining it today as a pivot may seem crazy; But in the future, he will be able to play this position. Although in a 4-3-3, obviously, not in a 4-4-2. Because the quality and construction of the game are phenomenal ”said Carlo Ancelotti.
Comparisons with Toni Kroos did not fail after the meeting against Getafe. In its edition of the day, AS thus made a parallel between the Turk and the German in terms of statistics. Faced with Getafe, Guller posted a percentage of 88% passes that approaches Kroos standards (92% on average in Liga last season). But it is especially in his risk taking that he excelled. With 77 passes attempted in 78 minutes, Guller was in the edge of a Kroos Toni (97 assists in 90 minutes) with also 29 successful passes in the opposing half. To compare, during his last 48 games with Madrid, he made an average of 53 passes attempted in 90 minutes. This Wednesday, it was therefore above the average and the idea of making it come down from a notch takes more and more credibility in Madrid…
