It has generally been a difficult season for Real Madrid, but the last seven days have been particular turbulent for the club. Antonio Rudiger clashed with Alvaro Carreras earlier in the week, while on Thursday, Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde also came to blow, which resulted in the latter being hospitalised.
The incidents were the boiling point for a dressing room that has become increasingly divided over the last few months. Among those at the heart of it is club captain Dani Carvajal, who has been sidelined by head coach Alvaro Arbeloa in recent weeks, with growing questions being asked of the veteran defender.
In particular, his leadership skills have been questioned. His inability to stop the aforementioned conflicts, coupled with Real Madrid’s drop in performances on the biggest stage, have led some of the dressing room to push for a new captaincy system, as revealed by Diario AS.
For a number of years, Real Madrid have decided their captains via seniority – aka, who has been at the club the longest. Carvajal took over the role from Luka Modric last summer, and at things stand, he will be succeeded by Valverde when he moves on, which is likely to be at the end of the current season.
Real Madrid players want to follow Barcelona model
There are many within the dressing room that want the Real Madrid captaincy group to be decided via a democratic role, which is similar to how El Clasico rivals Barcelona go about deciding their roles – they use a hybrid system that also takes seniority into account, hence why Ronald Araujo is their current skipper.
It’s clear that big chances are needed within Real Madrid, and this could be one of them. The decision over a change of captaincy system will fall at the feet of Florentino Perez and the club’s board, and it remains to be seen whether they decide that a new approach is necessary.
