REAL MADRID
Camavinga shines in Tchouaméni’s midfield role for Real Madrid
The Frenchman has taken up the role of midfield pivot in Tchouaméni’s absence and has performed brilliantly over the past few games.
Real Madrid have already learned to live without Aurélien Tchouaméni at the base of their midfield. The Frenchman has been substituted by compatriot Eduardo Camavinga ever since he suffered a foot fracture in the win over FC Barcelona and will most likely not return to action until 2024.
In his absence, Carlo Ancelotti has given Camavinga his role and the ex-Rennes player has thrived; the Italian coach originally had his doubts about the idea, given Eduardo’s relative inexperience and more dynamic profile, with the player presumed to feel more comfortable in a position higher up the pitch - but he is proving the doubters wrong.
Last season the manager went with Toni Kroos as the Tchouaméni replacement, keeping Camavinga at left-back, where he performed well, despite openly admitting to not liking the position. The player has now repeated on various occasions that he does not enjoy playing there, but has also made clear that he will, if asked by Ancelotti, return to that side of the defensive line with no problems whatsoever.
Who will play in the pivot role when Tchouaméni returns?
Right now he is needed in the middle of midfield, as the defensive pivot, and is shining in the role. In the LaLiga game against Rayo he won the ball back 9 times and looked amazing, despite the result. His performance against Braga was sensational and he went up a level against Valencia, recovering the ball 7 times.
With such great performances, a difficult question appears: when Tchouaméni is back fit, who will play as the pivot?
The dilemma, as soon as one starts to analyse it, becomes impossibly difficult yet insanely intriguing, as it does not simply open a debate as to which player should play in the position. Given that the two players in question, Tchouaméni and Camavinga, are so different from one another, it ignites the question of how to fundamentally interpret that deep-lying position in the system.
Tchouaméni is capable of playing a more positional, calm, metronomic game, centred around destruction and tidy ball-play, whereas Camavinga is riskier, taking more chances yet reaping positive rewards when in comes to unbalancing the opposition.
Tchouaméni vs Camavinga: how the stats line up
The accurate pass percentage of each player is worth looking at: Tchouaméni sits at 93% while Camavinga, since his teammate’s injury, is on 85%. The ex-Monaco midfielder passes more per game (69 vs 53) and is also more accurate when it comes to accurate passes (64 vs 45) and, perhaps surprisingly, he also makes more passes in the opponent’s half (57% vs 52%).
However, the ex-Rennes midfielder is streets ahead when it comes to recoveries (7.1 vs 4.3 per 90) although he loses the ball much more often (14.3 vs 7.5); Eduardo tries more take-ons per game (3.4 vs 0.5) and manages to pull it off a lot more (2 vs 0.3).
Ancelotti, meanwhile, does not deny the evidence. Camavinga, this year, has adapted much better to the position than the player that arrived in 2021 and who had to be taken off many times due to yellow cards and the worry of suspension. This is still happening, sometimes, with the player getting a very avoidable yellow against Valencia, but Ancelotti is clear in his assessment: “it’s clear that he is getting to being a pivot. In the last games without Tchouaméni he’s done well in that position.” Right now there is no debate, but when Tchouaméni returns there could well be a floating question mark above the head of Carlo Ancelotti.