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What Happened to The Galáctico Policy?

In CSF’s very first article, I wrote about Zinedine Zidane’s re-appointment as Real Madrid manager. The article read in part, "I thought he [Zidane] was one of, if not the best man-managers in the world… This makes Zidane the perfect manager to bring in a star signing next summer because he would handle the player's ego very well. With the right replacement for Ronaldo and if he keeps everyone calm, Zidane could prove himself as a manager once again." I stand by my plaudits for Zidane’s man-management skills, yet, (ignoring the seemingly endless Gareth Bale saga) Zidane has not had a chance to show these skills since coming to Madrid. Interestingly enough, Madrid did in fact make a star signing to replace Ronaldo, however the club’s €100 million investment in Eden Hazard has not yet been repaid by the Belgian. Hazard’s ankle injury and a reported lack of fitness after the summer, has, at least momentarily, put Real Madrid in a situation which they are very unfamiliar with; playing without a ‘Galáctico’ or star player. Since the turn of the century, club president, Florentino Perez, has introduced and enforced the so-called Galáctico transfer policy which encourages Real to recruit as many star signings as possible. The policy has provided the club with the likes of Beckham and at one point Zidane himself. When Cristiano Ronaldo departed Madrid in the summer of 2018, this Galáctico mentality appears to have left with him. Plus, as mentioned already, the big-money signing of Eden Hazard has not yet brought it back to the Bernabeu faithful. This is not to say that there are currently no star players in the white half of Madrid, but the majority of them are either a bit too young and lacking maturity or getting old and slowing down.

Chelsea in Front of Goal

Whilst reflecting on Chelsea’s 4-0 opening day loss to Manchester United I wrote that "Out of Chelsea’s three centre-forwards (Giroud, Abraham and Batshuayi), none would remotely frighten opposition defences… Additionally, Chelsea out-shot United 18-11, yet were still unable to hit the back of the net, while United scored 4. This shows a clear lack of clinical finishing in the final third from Chelsea, especially from their ineffective strikers." Since that match, Chelsea and their players have dipped in and out of form. Yet in the recent reverse fixture, in which Chelsea lost 2-0 to United, it was clear to see that Chelsea’s problems upfront have remained. In the first 20 minutes of the 2-0 loss alone, there were at least 2 instances in which Chelsea were forced to take a shot from distance because of striker, Michy Batshuayi. In one case, Batshuayi was well-offside and in another, he was marked and poorly positioned. In a completely separate instance, Batshuayi and Willian, were both waiting for a cross in the box. The ball eventually fell to Willian and for good reason because Batshuayi was being literally hugged out of the game by big central-defender, Harry Maguire. Instead of trying to break free of the hug and therefore his defender, Batshuayi is caught ball-watching and accepts defeat as he watches the cross fly past him. My point being that, without a fully-fit and in-form Tammy Abraham in the lineup, my description of Chelsea’s attack from the opening day of the season, will continue to hold true until the very closing day of the season. Former Liverpool defender, Steve Nicol put it best, saying after the 2-0 loss that Chelsea “can’t hit a barn door from three yards.”