For many years, Federico Valverde held the title of "Mr Reliable." In many ways, the Uruguay international still holds that title, but he may have been joined in this niche pecking order by another Real Madrid player. The more the merrier, seriously.
Fede Valverde isn't just a tremendous player, he's also a tremendous leader. This is why Real Madrid gave him a deserved place in the leadership team, as one of the vice captains behind Dani Carvajal.
It's fair to say that Valverde is one of the players who over-performed expectations the most in a Real Madrid jersey. Long may that continue.
Real Madrid is known to run Fede Valverde into the ground, literally. He practically plays every available minute for Real Madrid, and he does it without complaining.
It's nice for Real Madrid to have a player as consistent as Valverde to rely on, but he can't do it all by himself.
A new player is emerging as Real Madrid's most consistent player, and he's on par, if not beating Valverde in this metric. That player is Aurelien Tchouameni.
Tchouameni is just another world-class midfielder that France produced. Heck, Real Madrid has seen their fair share of these ( Makelele, Zidane, to name a few).
Something about Tchouameni under Xabi Alonso, though, feels different. Different in a good way, that is.
So far this Liga season, Tchouameni has played every available minute for Real Madrid, and for good reason. He's simply irreplaceable in this team, and he's having one more world-class game after another.
When players are in form like Tchouameni, it's impossible to justify leaving them on the bench for even one minute. He wouldn't like it either, he'll want to relish every last second on the pitch, leaving absolutely nothing out there.
When Jude Bellingham comes back into the fray, there are questions for Xabi Alonso to answer. One player will have to make way for Real Madrid's star boy, but no player deserves to be dropped.
Tchouameni has at least made that conundrum easier for Alonso: He won't be dropped. He can't be dropped.