Carlo Ancelotti, the living legend and Real Madrid boss, is famous for keeping his emotions calm and his cards close to his chest.
One suspects a nuclear explosion could suddenly go off today and the most successful manager in Champions League history would respond with a raised eyebrow, a sip of his espresso, and a ‘que sera sera’.
But even Ancelotti would have been forgiven for letting his pulse increase as Real Madrid’s failure to bring in Leny Yoro – prior to his £52 million move to Manchester United – threatens to backfire.
At the end of July, after the immensely-highly-rated Yoro swapped Lille for Old Trafford despite spending much of the summer seemingly destined for the Santiago Bernabeu, Ancelotti responded with trademark poise.
“The squad is complete,” Ancelotti told Super Deporte, highlighting the returns of Jesus Vallejo and David Alaba as well as the emergence over pre-season of three very exciting young talents.
“Vallejo has returned. Alaba is recovering. And we have the youngsters who are training and have a lot of quality, like the three centre-backs; Joan (Martinez), Jacobo (Ramon) and Raul (Asencio).
“In this position, we believe we are very well covered.”
Manchester United won Leny Yoro race
Joan Martinez, the 16-year-old centre-half with a haircut that would not look out of place in a 60 Seconds to Mars moshpit, was one of the breakout stars of the summer at Real Madrid.
Impressive yet again in the 2-1 defeat to Clasico rivals Barcelona in the USA, fellow Madrid starlet Nico Paz described the teenager as an ‘incredible defender’, per Managing Madrid.
“He has potential, everything a centre-back needs,” added Ancelotti. “He is good with the ball, very attentive. He has many things to improve, but he could have a future at Real Madrid.
“The youth team has done a great job with him because he is very good.”
As Martinez went from strength-to-strength, Real Madrid’s reluctance to pay Lille’s eye-watering asking price for another teen talent with just one year left on his contracted started to make a little bit more sense.
But if you thought Man United were unlucky with injuries – Yoro breaking his foot in just his second pre-season outing – spare a thought for the poor European Champions.
Real Madrid suffer yet another ACL casualty
After losing Thibaut Courtois and the aforementioned Alaba for most of last term, Joan Martinez is the latest Real Madrid player to rupture his anterior cruciate ligament.
His ACL blow is the most emotional of the lot, too. A young player struck down for up to 12 months just when his Los Blancos career was really starting to take off.
So Yoro, even from his hospital bed, might consider himself fortunate then to only have three months’ worth of recovery time ahead of him.
To think, Martinez was starting to look like the one who would benefit most from Yoro’s switch to Manchester United. Real Madrid, meanwhile, were seemingly confident that they had an elite central defensive talent of their own at home ready and waiting to step up and make his mark.
But as Real’s injury curse strikes again, even the unflappable Ancelotti may be wishing he could turn back the clock and rip that Man United contract out of Yoro’s hands.
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