On April 26, Arda Güler had played just 31 minutes in LaLiga with Real Madrid. Understandably, he was frustrated and acted a little petulant at times.
Less than a month later, in the most dramatic demonstration of why Madrid fought to sign him, the 19-year-old Turkish international has scored six goals in 373 league minutes, which, surprisingly, equates to approximately one goal every hour in the field. for the champions of Spain.
There is another time stamp to add to this amazing story.
On 29 June 2023, Barcelona's incoming director of football Deco flew to Turkey to negotiate directly with Fenerbahce and Güler's representatives to try to sign Güler. blaugrana This was confirmed by president Joan Laporta to Mundo Deportivo.
“Deco was in Istanbul today. LaLiga has allowed us to start signing for next season without affecting our 'Fair Play' status,” he said. “Arda Güler is a very talented footballer, who Deco really likes and we are trying to finalize his transfer.”
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
Less than a week later, not only had Barcelona completely failed in their initiative, but Güler and Fenerbahce had reached an agreement with Real Madrid and the agreement was announced for him to move to the Santiago Bernabéu for the next six years. The Spanish media Marca had been confident enough, 24 hours earlier, to occupy the cover of its printed edition with a large photo of the young man with the headline: “Madrid removes Güler from Barcelona.”
What caught the least attention, then, was that Laporta also confirmed that Deco was “working” on the transfer of Vítor Roque from Club Atlético Paranaense.
When he flew to Turkey to try to close a deal for Güler, it had been just over a week since Deco made public the closure of his player representation agency (D20), which would have clashed with his future responsibility as management director of the Camp Nou. . football. A consequence of closing his agency was that he no longer directly represented Roque, but rather led the efforts to sign him for Barcelona.
It sounded as strange then as it does now, but very few in the Spanish media paid attention to it.
In short: Roque's recent agent was sent as a representative of Barcelona (although Deco would not be publicly confirmed in the position of director of football until mid-August) to try to confirm the signing of a brilliant young Turkish goal-scoring talent precisely at the same time. time that Barça was working on the incorporation of Roque to the club. This is despite the fact that the Catalan club's ability to spend money on new signings is drastically limited by LaLiga's financial rules and there is at least the possibility that if Barcelona signed Güler they would not have the capacity to sign Roque.
How did things end?
Güler, as we have already explained, seems like the absolute mustard of Madrid, which is champion and aspires to win its 15th Champions League in a couple of weeks at Wembley. Regardless of how Deco conducted their meetings, regardless of Barcelona's clarity about the need to sign Güler, they not only failed miserably, but they saw him pass their bitterest rivals and are now rubbing their wounds with truckloads. of salt.
It should strike panic or fury in the hearts of those who support the blaugrana club that this is exactly the path that Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior followed. Barça worked hard on both, they thought they had their deals closed (Gerard Piqué even called Vinícius to start chatting about how he would fit into his locker room culture), but now both are multi-trophy winners with The whites and, instead, deeply rooted in Real Madrid folklore.
For his part, Roque was announced as a Barcelona player on July 12 of last summer, but his arrival date was delayed until June 2024. However, midway through the season his move to LaLiga was brought forward so he could join Barcelona in January. ; A decision that is subsequently contributing to damaging relations between Laporta, Deco and coach Xavi Hernández to the point that rumors are incessant that the coach could be fired once the season ends.
0:59
Marcotti: “Joan Laporta should not treat Xavi like this”
Gab Marcotti speaks to Barcelona president Joan Laporta about the mess surrounding Xavi and his future at the club.
Instead of Roque or Güler, Barcelona took João Félix on loan from Atlético Madrid (the player is represented by Deco's former agent Jorge Mendes). Félix has started only 22 of 47 LaLiga and Champions games and has not been in Xavi's eleven for more than a month. Make your own conclusions.
The essence of Roque's time with Xavi is that he is rarely used and his coach has spoken of how he still has a huge learning curve ahead of him. The 19-year-old Brazilian – who would be extremely unusual if he had not complained to his former agent, Deco, about why he is on the bench in Spain instead of starting in Brazil as initially planned – has started twice in LaLiga and did not have any minutes in the Champions League.
Again, draw your own conclusions.
Xavi, if he continues in office, it seems clear that he would prefer to give up Roque so that the young man can toughen up, settle in a new continent and return to the Camp Nou (which will reopen in November) in better shape to help the cause.
Ironically, this was a development path that was suggested to Güler not long ago. Instead, now not only is he posting genuinely outstanding goal figures, but there are a few other things about him. This is a footballer who, despite the meniscus and thigh injuries that robbed him of much of his debut season, has literally stunned his teammates since his arrival.
The rumors emerging from Madrid's pre-season training about Jude Bellingham began immediately; Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Thibaut Courtois and Dani Carvajal were surprised by his maturity, his disposition and his authority despite being only 20 years old. The rumors about Güler were that no one, including coach Carlo Ancelotti, could believe how much absolute class he had. oozed out. That he was, technically speaking, monstrously impressive.
Earlier this week, Ancelotti commented that “the ball loves Arda.” Shocking words coming from a man of such experience and sagacity: Carlo has seen it all. Joselu, after Güler scored two goals in that 4-4 draw against Villarreal, described the Turk as “a diamond of a player.”
Although he has scored a couple with his right foot in recent months, both for Madrid and Fenerbahçe, he is someone who wants to position himself on the right wing to be able to cut into the infield and finish with his left foot. He, too, is not averse to occupying nine false positions: watch some of his goals over the past two seasons, including the opener against Villarreal, and you will see what I mean.
No team can allow him a split second to think on the right edge of his penalty area: go for his goal for Turkey in Wales. You can also burst the net from afar. That is something we will see regularly in Madrid next season. Promise.
There have been some sparks between Güler and Brahim Díaz, and the latter is no doubt upset that, despite his excellent season, his fellow teenager is now threatening the amount of playing time he will get in the future. However, on the whole, Madrid's players and staff adore Güler and have been happy to guide him through some teething problems when he was a youngster in a hurry and clearly unimpressed by the amount of playing time Ancelotti was giving him. once he was in shape.
There has been a lot of attention on how Vinicius and Kylian Mbappé will fit and function (given that he meets all our expectations and signs for Madrid) when they have such similar positional profiles, and countless conversations about how Ancelotti should manage that integration. There is also a survival-of-the-fittest battle looming over who (between Joselu, Brahim, Rodrygo, Vinicius, Mbappé, Güler and Endrick (seven players for two starting spots in Madrid's current 4-4-2 formation)) will get minutes. worthy, who will suffer on the bench and who will be loaned or transferred.
But, in context, there is an even clearer conclusion to draw: Madrid is light years ahead of Barcelona when it comes to detecting, convincing and signing the best young talents in the world.
Furthermore, if Xavi's job is truly in jeopardy, there could be grounds for severe scrutiny, within the club, over whether he, or Deco, truly represent the best way forward for a club in danger of seeing its main rival dominate. fiercely for some time to come. I suspect they have already come to the wrong conclusion.
