Which player can realistically replace Ronaldo

There have been many shocking transfers in the last decade of footballing history.

Luis Figo (F.C. Barcelona) to Real Madrid,

Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) to Manchester United,

Neymar JR (F.C. Barcelona) to PSG,

But it is hard to decide whether the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo should be considered “shocking”. Truthfully speaking, Ronaldo is old. He will become 34 in February.

However, like Mark Twain put it –

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. 

To Ronaldo age does not matter. For the 8^thseason in a row, Ronaldo managed to score 50+ goals. Astoundingly, he played only 25 games! This netted (pun not intended) him the highest goals scored per match ratio in Europe.  Furthermore, he single handedly carried a mediocre Portugal squad to the world cup round of sixteen.

Therefore, Perez  (President of Real Madrid) had a 50/50 decision;

Stick to the rules of biology and hope that age will overcome Cristiano Ronaldo.

Or

Tread with the unknown, as Ronaldo overcomes the final barrier in Footballing realm; age.

To the dismay of many footballing fans (including me), Perez chose the former.

Are Real Madrid doomed without CR7?

As Cristiano Ronaldo exited Santiago Bernabeu, the magical spell he had casted on all Real Madrid fans finally broke.

With a void larger than Spain’s annual export of Olive Oil (highest in the world), the question that posed was; Can Cristiano be replaced?

No and Yes,

No, because no one in footballing history has every scored 50+ goals in such a consistent manner. There is very little chance that there will actually be someone who can break this insane goal scoring spree.

Yes, because Real Madrid have a dream midfield, KCM; Toni Kross, 2014 world cup winner and most accurate passer in Spain. Casimiro, the most accurate tackler in Europe. Finally, the best for last, Luka Modric. If you are any football fan, Modric needs no introduction.  Therefore, even if you put a third division attacker, he will bag a lot of goals.

However, we are talking about one of the most successful clubs in Europe. Real Madrid Club De Futbol cannot simply get “any” sticker. They need a talented attacker (preferably young) who can score 30-35+ goals per season. Below are some of my picks which I think will do well in Real Madrid.

Replacing Ronaldo: Honorable mentions

 Could have been great, should have been great, but didn’t happen…

Neymar Junior

Neymar showed all football fans that he his only loyal to himself. Neymar is a great replacement to Ronaldo. He is super talented, fast, agile and can bond easily with the club because he speaks fluent Spanish. However, both Real Madrid and PSG have made statements that they are not buying/selling Neymar.

 Mbappe

World Cup Winner, young and blitzing fast. Like Modric, this young boy needs no introduction. Unfortunately, Mbappe has said that he is not interested in joining at the moment.

Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah

 One is a poacher and the other is a dribbler/speedster. Both are great goal scorers. However, both of them have signed new contracts for their respective club and will not join Real Madrid.

Firmino and Mane

Another great poacher and yet another great dribbler/speedster. Unfortunately, both of them have faith in Jurgen Klopp, who is making big things happen in Liverpool.

 Robert Lewandowski

A great striker with excellent finishing. Robert Lewandowski has shown eagerness to leave Bayern Munich. Unfortunately, due to his age (33) combined with his disappointing champions league and world cup performance, he will most likely stay in Germany.

Willian and Gabriel Jesus

If Neymar was not present, either Willian or Jesus would have been the main man for the Brazilian national team. Regardless, both these players are great footballers who holds all the ingredients required to be a good attacker. However, both of them have recently publicly declared their dedication to their club.

 Messi

Nope.

Replacing Ronaldo: Can current attack be enough?

Regardless of Julen Lopetegui’s assurance that the current Ronaldo-less Real Madrid do need to buy a new galactico, many fans are quite concerned with current attack force:

Karim Benzema was once considered one of the greatest attackers in the world. Yet, age has caught up with the Frenchman. In the last two seasons, Benzema has only scored 13 goals in total. Regardless of his proclaimed “false-9/ playmaker” role, this is far below what a number 9 should score.

Gareth Bale is one of the greatest wingers in football. Yet his career in Real Madrid has been filled with injuries. In fact, Bale has played only 53% of the total matches in Real Madrid. For a man who costed enough to match the combined GDP of Montserrat (country in the Caribbean) and Tuvalu (country in the Pacific), playing only half of Real Madrid’s matches is very disappointing.

We should also not forget about Vicinous Junior, Marcos Asensio and Isco. Yet these players are still relatively young. Therefore, they cannot effectively “pack a punch” …

Yet.

Replacing Ronaldo: Who can do it

Replacing Crisitano Ronaldo is perhaps the most difficult task. Not only is it difficult in regard to the skill level required, but also the massive burden the player who replaces him has to carry.  Keeping this into consideration, I have come up with 4 players who could perhaps replace Cristiano Ronaldo. The three players are: Eden Hazard, Leroy Sane and Sergej Milinikovic-Savic. See below how the fare out against the Crisitano Ronaldo:

Note: All stats are based on the average per game.

	Ronaldo	Hazard	Sane	Savic
Goals	0.96	0.36	0	0.32
Assists	0.20	0.12	0.22	0.10
Key Passes	1.44	2.21	1.11	1.35
Successful passes	22.72	32.36	27.67	40.68
Goals from Inside Penalty Box	0.96	0.33	0	0.16
Goals from Outside Penalty Box	0	0.03	0	0.16
Shot Accuracy	0	0.03	0	0.16
Tackles Won	0.16	0.09	0.33	1.13
Interception	0.24	0.09	0.33	0.90
Yellow Cards	0.04	0.06	0	0.19
Foul Suffered	0.72	2.30	0.67	1.39

Bold = Player with the best figures in the category

Italics = Second best player if Ronaldo is the best in the respective category.

Replacing Ronaldo: Eden Hazard

 At 27 years old, Hazard will fit into Real Madrid perfectly. He is fast, agile and a great dribbler. He can also convert the chances given by KCM and also create plays.

He can speak French which will make it easier for him to learn Spanish and he is also used to performing under the burden of constant criticism from the English press.

From the fact table above, we can see that Hazard has the highest average number of key passes. He also has the highest average foul suffered. This can be essential in slowing down rhythm and buying the team time. A great example of this was in the match of Belgium against Brazil.

Replacing Ronaldo: Leroy Sane

Sane is a wonderful young player. At 21 years of age, Sane has a great playmaking ability. He is also a great finisher.

Sane might have some issues with fitting in. This was most prominent when he was dropped out of the German national team because of “showing too much attitude”. However, this might also just have been because of his young age.

Replacing Ronaldo: Sergej Milinikovic-Savic

If you did not follow the 2018 World Cup closely, it would be hard to figure out who this person is. However, you would certainly know his name if you did watch any of Siberia’s matches.

Savic is a strange player…

Towering at an astounding height of nearly 2 meters, one would expect Savic to be a great poacher/finisher. However, for him to be technically gifted and be a great playmaker is absolutely astounding.

Savic is only 23 and yet from the facts above we can see that this lad has some insane potential. He ranks highest on key passes, goals from outside the box and interceptions. For an attacker to be so heavily involved in defense is crazy!

Who can replace Ronaldo?

 The above 3 players could sort of replace Ronaldo. However, no matter how much football evolves, an attacker HAS to score goals. From the stat table above, Ronaldo scored 0.96 goals per game. The second-best player to do that, Eden Hazard scored only one-third of that.

I personally think that if Real Madrid buy Savic and Hazard they could potentially replace Ronaldo. Since Gareth Bale is showing signs of entering his peak, a trio of Hazard, Savic and Bale might just work.

We still do not know whether Real Madrid will actually buy any player to replace Ronaldo. However, from this rather long analysis, it is understandable that whoever will take up Ronaldo’s mantle will have to prominently score a lot of goals and hold the burden of Cristiano Ronaldo.  Whether the successor will be someone already in Real Madrid, a player from another club or multiple players, we will just have to be patient and wait.