Appreciating Dani Carvajal

As 2024 rolls on, so does the career of Carvajal, possibly Real Madrids best ever Right Back, who is having one of his best ever seasons to date, and it has reminded me of the feeling I had towards Marcelo around 2019, when I started to imagine life after Marcelo and how that left side of the team wouldn’t be the same.

I really think Carvajal is a special talent, the way he controls the ball, his delivery into the area, his tenacity at pressing the opposing defenders, especially when he loses the ball. He has even added important goals to his game this season like his half volley against Valencia. And it seems like from almost day 1 since he returned from his loan spell in Germany that he has made that RB position his own.

Often youngsters take time to settle into Real Madrid, of course there are exceptions, especially from the youngest generation of footballers who are at Real Madrid now, like Bellingham and Camavinga. But generally it does take some time for the kids to get used to the demands and pressure of Real Madrid. A perfect example is Fran Garcia who still seems a bit nervy when he’s on the pitch.

However seeing Carvajal back in the 2013/14 season, in which he featured in 45 games, which is really impressive for a 21 year old to do at Real Madrid. I can remember thinking how comfortable and how quickly he took to his starting role. And he’s never really looked back.

I was not one of these fans who ever worried about his ability or questioned his place in the team, and I’m still not that disappointed that we even lost out on Hakimi as I wouldn’t have traded Hakimi for Dani. However his injuries around the 2020-2022 period were really worrying, and I did question if he would ever be able to play a full season again. So seeing Dani back to his best and fit again is a true blessing.

I would like Real Madrid to invest in the summer 2024 transfer window in a young RB, I think at 32 years of age its the perfect time for us to have a youngster playing under Dani and learning.

However for now the RB position is 1 of the least concerning for me as long as Carvajal is fit because I think we have probably the best RB in the world playing for us and I hope he can continue for many years to come yet. Many teams have struggled to replace great full backs, look at Bayern Munich with Lahm ( even though I thought Kimmich was as perfect as you can get, still not 100% sure why he is played in midfield), Barcelona with Dani Alves, Manchester united with Neville, Arsenal with Ashley Cole and we could go on. I think Real Madrid will also have this problem when we finally say goodbye to Dani, let us just hope we get a miracle like we did at the Left back position when Marcelo replaced Roberto Carlos.