Real Madrid have done a great job when it comes to extending the contracts of their star players and making sure that they remain at the club for the foreseeable future, even though all the deals might not have been announced officially yet.
There is one first-team starter though, whose future at Santiago Bernabeu seems to be in doubt.
Ferland Mendy arrived at Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 from Lyon for a transfer fee believed to be around €53 million including add-ons. With such an investment made, it is great to see that he has developed into a starter at the club.
Mendy was a starter for the club during the time of Zinedine Zidane as manager and has held on to his place in the team since the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti as well. Yet, the Frenchman’s long-term future in Madrid remains up in the air.
As reported by Marca, there is a feeling that Real Madrid are still evaluating his performances with a view to a decision on his future, either to consider renewing his contract or to put him on the transfer market.
Mendy was left out of France national team’s squad for the World Cup in Qatar. And that just goes on to show that while he might be a starter for Real Madrid, there are weaknesses in his game as well.
In the Frenchman’s case, the area of weakness is pretty obvious. While Mendy might be the best left-back on the planet when it comes to the defensive side of the game, he simply does not offer enough going forward.
Of course, at Real Madrid, the incredible attacking talent of Vinicius Jr means that the club do not need a lot of output from Mendy on that end of the pitch in the majority of the games.
There are question marks over his fitness as well. Mendy has missed a lot of games over the years due to injuries.