DBasia.news – In the summer to cold 2020-2021 Real Madrid did not recruit a single player due to the corona virus pandemic. The pandemic affected their financial condition so that they did not recruit new players.
Practically shopping for players in 2019, plus the presence of experienced senior players at the club, has become a mainstay for Zinedine Zidane to excel this season.
However, the team’s performance is still fickle and of those recruited in the summer of 2019, not many have immediately become successful playing regularly and are relied on by Zidane.
Luka Jovic was loaned back to Eintracht Frankfurt, Eden Hazard was injured a lot, Rodrygo was inconsistent, Eder Militao was not completely convincing, Reinier and Takefusa Kubo were loaned out to other clubs.
There is only one name that looks good. You could say he’s Madrid’s best signing since the summer of 2019. He is 23-year-old left-back, Ferland Mendy, who was brought in from Olympique Lyonnais for 48 million euros.
It didn’t take long for Mendy to displace Marcelo to the bench. Another advantage is that the French defender can also play as a right-back and center-back. Naturally, he broke records.
Quoted from Marca Mendy, so one of Madrid’s top performers. No outfield player has been bought into and featured regularly like Ferndy since Toni Kroos came to the club. Mendy has made 57 appearances so far (4,520 minutes), a record that Kroos has crossed in his one and a half season with Madrid.
The record is even more special because Mendy has also set a record in Europe in the most successful dribble category among defenders, in the top five European leagues.
Mendy successfully dribbled the ball 53 times in 81 attempts, surpassing Luka Modric (49 times in 66 attempts) and Vinicius (40 times out of 93 attempts) in the Madrid squad.
That number was originally passed by Javi Galan but the player became a wing-back at Huesca. Mendy’s record is also above the former Real Madrid player who shone at AC Milan, Theo Hernandez (52 times out of 85 attempts).
So far Ferland Mendy has been a good investment for Real Madrid. The same is expected to happen to Madrid players who are currently on loan at other clubs such as Jovic, Martin Odegaard, Kubo and Brahim Diaz.