Turkish midfielder Arda Güler shines on Real Madrid debut

Real Madrid swept past Arandina with a solid 1-3 win with goals from Joselu (penalty), Brahim and Rodrygo. In the end, the win was an easily affair against a team from Spain’s third division; pride was on the line but the team put out by Ancelotti did their job. On days like this, the Madridista’s eye is not drawn to the scoreline, but the details. And there was no bigger standout detail than Arda Güler’s debut with the club.

The Turkish midfielder was finally able to wear the white of Real Madrid and put an end to what had been a seemingly endless list of slip-ups and misfortune since his arrival in the summer. After signing from Fenerbahçe, who got €20 million for their talent, injuries moved the date of his debut further and further along in the season, with a torn meniscus being operated on in pre-season only the beginning of a list of further physical problems.

Güler shines on Madrid debut

Added to that was Ancelotti’s reluctance to accelerate Güler’s recovery process: he is a player barely 18-years-old with his physique stands out for being clearly unprepared for elite football. During pre-season, as the technical staff were wowed by his technical qualities on the ball, a plan was drawn up to allow Güler to bulk up and fill out the white shirt that hung like a bedsheet on the washing line around his skinny shoulders. It was a plan similar to that of Rodrygo, another player who arrived as a bag of bare bones with incredible talent.

In the press conference after the win against Mallorca, Ancelotti reaffirmed that he would not be in any hurry to get Güler on the pitch: “I am very aware that he is 18-years-old. [We need to be] calm with him and go easy; he will be a very important player for the present and for the future. We all need a little patience. I have it, and so does he. He will have his minutes, the quality is there”.

However, just days later, Ancelotti decided to give the Turkish delight his debut with the first team, despite it being against a team from the third division. But give him his debut Ancelotti did, and the player shone: 35/39 completed passes (90%), 56 interventions, 3 shots (1 on target, 1 off the post), 2/3 successful dribbles and 3 ball recoveries.

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‘Obviously he’s not at the physical level yet, but he has shown his quality’

He was, by some distance, the LaLiga side’s best attacker in the first half. Despite not finding the goal, he made sure people knew he was switched on and capable. He took on shots when the occasions arrived and did so with his right foot, supposedly his ‘weaker’ of the two, without a second thought. As well as that, he took a free-kick that looked set up perfectly for Dani Ceballos’ right foot... and hit the post with a curling effort that bent outside the goal, around the wall, and onto the woodwork.

Ancelotti praised Güler’s performance in the match as well as his character, although he gave him a small but positive ‘but’: his physical condition, an area he needs to improve in order to compete at the highest level for a longer period of time.

It is true that in the second half he hardly participated, the match becoming a bit long for him despite playing only 60 minutes. For the moment, however, and for Ancelotti, he did more than enough: “He played an hour at a good level. Obviously he’s not at the physical level yet, but he has shown his quality. He has personality, he has character. This is good. He stands out for the quality he has with his (left) foot, but character is also important to do well at Real Madrid”.

What next for Arda Güler?

For the time being, he will travel to Saudi Arabia to play the Super Cup against Atlético Madrid (Wednesday 10 January 2024. KO 2pm ET/11am PT.), although getting on the pitch in Riyadh looks to be a complicated objective for him: the first obstacle is that the semi-final game is a derby, and then the hypothetical final is either a potential Clásico or a repetition of the most recent Copa del Rey final against Osasuna.

It looks like the Copa del Rey this year will be his competition during January, in addition to the minutes that Ancelotti will be able to give him in LaLiga. For the time being, Güler showed that he is a talented player and that, if he manages to consistently reproduce what he showed against Arandina, there is a Madrid player there for many years to come.