Unlike Rodrygo & Viniciús, i haven't watched Reinier much but from few clips (which isn't anywhere near enough to draw a conclusion) he looks good as a CF alongside another leading the line.

And from what i'm reading, he's exactly that. Now this begs the question, why?

Why did Real Madrid sign him? What was the thought process behind signing him when Viniciús & Rodrygo are already part of the club.

There were some suggestions of him filling for "right side forward" who would mostly be deployed inside with MF (Valverde) & RB providing width.

Forget this season or even next one. Ødegaard returns & given how he's developed, the history behind him and how he works/learns, he's bound to slot into formation.

Ødegaard wants to play into these spaces between the lines which result into that option being redundant.

I find it very hard to see where and how Reinier shapes up for RM:

Unlike Rodrygo & Viniciús who are more utilized and have more chances to be, i don't see same happening with Reinier unless he's used same as Havertz. And that doesn't fit the 2 other Brazilians.

This transfer was & still continues to be very weird for me - his price €35M+ bonuses is a huge sum to pay & you'd expect a minimal impact like Viniciús or even show something to work upon like Rodrygo.

Even for Castilla i wasn't THAT impressed due to his style of play.

I do agree that Real Madrid has a very good pool of talents in almost every position & midfield pairing of Ødegaard - Camavinga - Valverde is extremely good on paper. Obviously nothing is assured until it happens.

Then you have Viniciús (leading by far), Rodrygo, Kubo & Brahim at minimum for the flanks, there's interest in Hàaland with Jović also in the books. That excludes players like Asensio who can still contribute & are relatively young.

Project is good & every signing but Reinier makes sense to me.

Now i expect the club to be in lookout for a defender (Varane type) or they'll approach a more established one like De Ligt when Ramos time to move on comes.

Hakimi & Odriozola are good options with a lot room to grow while Ferland Mendy & Regùilon seem far more established on their strengths. Lunin is extremely good GK who i expect a lot from.

Militáo remains the only CB option which will make that position a priority soon.

Obviously club is well aware that not everyone will work out

• Set the priority
• Set the standard

What & when do they wanr/expect players X to come into the scene, what they want from him & what's their trajectory. Important to note.

Then you have "The superstar" signing that will happen once in a while.

Real Madrid MUST remain competitive & win trophies in order to keep on growing financially and that is something they're aware of:

Question is; When do youngsters come into play?

Viniciús carried a huge load for a 19 year old and did extremely well. Rodrygo had his good patch which wasn't necessarily ground breaking & Federico Valverde won heart of everyone including Zidane.

Thing is: this proved not to be good enough to evaluate team into next lvl.

Real Madrid still required 33 year old Benzema to consistently step up which inevitably backfired due to injury & lost momentum (him & Ramos will benefit most from this break).

That isn't ideal & should never be plan for club. But it isn't their fault that Jović failed.

They signed Jović with that exact idea:

Prove to be Benzema's back up which he essentially failed to, January was what broke down ZZ men momentum and partially it comes down to Benzema/#9.

It's exciting to see where this goes but i do believe Real Madrid must have their targets ready for next year:

- CF of high caliber rather than prospect
- CB who also falls into same bracket. Ramos and Benzema showed their signs of decline & they'll be even less reliable.

Kylian Mbappè is clearly not coming anytime soon. This "flirting" now seems more of a leverage for a new deal rather than a genuine attempt to join Real Madrid.

This move will happen but i expect it to be way later onto his career rather than next year. 2 options really.

Madrid must move on. Find your next target & remain competitive/successful domestically aswell as internationally.

Two players i've extremely grown to like are Gnabry & Werner who would improve & evaluate this side. Especially the Bayern Münich man.

But Gnabry is simply impossible, especially if Sanè joins they'll make one of best winger pairings in world of football instantly.

Now another thing, what does future holds in terms of formation:

433 or 4312 - latter is preferred by ZZ in big games while former is what he wants to use against lesser teams for having more efficiency forward. Issue for now is lack of options.

Club isn't targeting any winger which is rather weird. But reasoning is they're too "old" for their price (Manè/Salah) or simply unattainable for now (Mbappè/Gnabry) so their solution first was keep Bale & now is trust Asensio. Lackluster a bit.

4312 is a different case tho. It can be very cagey at times but Madrid's floor & ceiling is stronger due to Hazard & Isco being together on pitch. Former is exceptional footballer while latter does "dirty job" better than most out there.

Thing is 4312 requires a lot of running and energy from players which is unsustainable for a league campaign which wants you to be on top for 38 games because you're competing with Messi.

That's why ZZ rotations become so important but he doesn't have good enough depth.

433 of Hazard/Benzema/Asensio hasn't happened yet so it's hard to say how good it is & how well they complement each other to create a good trio which is essentially good enough for not allowing Betis/Celta/Levante to happen. As mentioned earlier: 4312 is for the harder games.

Season will restart soon, players will gain their optimal form after & we'll be able to evaluate everything. Maybe that's why club hasn't set targets yet due to high belief in Asensio but it's a risky move.

If it fails, what's the back up plan?

Back up on paper is Rodrygo Goes, who isn't really a polished player knowing his strengths, rather working to find where he's worked best. Personally prefer him as in behind runner but that's not something he's headed given to what we've seen so far.