Arda Guler makes another case for more minutes with Real Madrid – Analysis | OneFootball

Jude Bellingham was undoubtedly the star acquisition for Real Madrid in the 2023 summer transfer window, and the Englishman went on to justify the fans’ expectations of him with his incredible first season at the Merengue club, as he helped his team win a La Liga and UEFA Champions League title.

But he was not the only addition to Carlo Ancelotti’s squad that generated a lot of hopes among the Real Madrid fans. In addition to Bellingham, another highly promising player who had generated interest in several big European clubs, Arda Guler, joined Los Blancos.

Unfortunately, the Turk had to endure a difficult start to his Real Madrid career, as he suffered several injuries that kept him from showcasing his talents on the pitch. He only gained a reliable level of fitness in the second half of the season, and Real Madrid winning La Liga with some matches to spare benefitted him as he got some opportunities to play without much pressure at the end of the season.

Guler took full advantage of these opportunities as he showed an incredible finishing ability, scoring six goals in the 10 league matches he had played throughout the season, starting only 4 of them. In total, he played 390 minutes in La Liga but was unable to make his UCL debut.

Owing to these performances at the end of the season, it was expected that Guler would have a significantly more prominent role in Ancelotti’s team this season. However, most of the fans have been rather unsatisfied with the minutes that Guler has gotten, and there were reports that even the higher authorities at the club wanted the Italian coach to play Guler more often.

But despite this concern from the fans, raw numbers show that Guler has actually become a more important player for Ancelotti than last season. This season, the Turk has already 12 appearances to his name, 8 in La Liga, 3 in UCL, and 1 in UEFA Super Cup.

However, he has totalled only 307 minutes in these 12 appearances. Other than the 3 starts that he got against Real Valladolid, Real Sociedad, and Espanyol, Guler has only got meagre minutes at the end of matches.

Furthermore, he remained as an unused sub in the important matches against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in La Liga, and against AC Milan in the UCL. Neither of these games ended in a win for Real Madrid.

On the other hand, he has been a fixed starter for his Turkish national team, and when playing for Vincenzo Montella’s team, he has been just as impressive as he was for Real Madrid at the end of the last season.

Only in his last game against Wales, Guler once again had an excellent outing, getting a Sofascore rating of 8.0. He was unable to get a direct goal contribution in a game which ended 0-0, but in his 86 minutes on the pitch, he had 2 shots on target, another shot off-target, and yet another shot blocked.

He also completed all three of his three attempted dribbles and won 5 of his 9 attempted duels. His passing accuracy stood at 89% as he completed 47 of his 53 passes. Guler also provided 3 key passes, attempted 7 crosses, of which 1 was accurate, and had 3 accurate long balls from 4 attempts.

It was clear that the Real Madrid starlet still has some improvements to make in his game, as he lost the ball 15 times. But still, this was yet another reminder that despite his relative lack of experience, Guler can still be a highly valuable player for Real Madrid going forward.

Hopefully, Ancelotti will have taken note of this performance and will give minutes to the Turkish gem in more important games, which will help Guler grow and develop into a more complete player, going forward.