Is Mariano the Forward Needed by Real Madrid?

There is a big controversy around Real Madrid in this start of the season because Los Blancos are not very accurate when they look at the rivals goal. The last example was the game against Tottenham Hotspur, where Hugo Lloris was the best player on the pitch, saving clear chances to Karim Benzema.

The French striker is being heavily criticized after his last performances. He missed a very clear chance against Valencia in the first game at home in La Liga and Benzema also missed two clear opportunities against the Spurs, the first one even without goalkeeper. Even Gary Lineker, former English footballer, asked his followers if Benzema was overrated.

Is it me or is Benzema a tad overrated? A goal every other game in a team as strong as Real Madrid is nada especial. Decent not great.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) 17 de octubre de 2017

In the middle of this problem with the goal we can also find Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese has scored five goals in the Champions League, being the topscorer of the competition together with Harry Kane, another player in Real Madrid’s agenda. However, in La Liga he has only found the net once, in the game against Getafe.

For this reason, Los Blancos are already looking at the market to see which strikers might be of interest. Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane is the first of the list, but we can also find other footballers such as Robert Lewandowski or Edin Dzeko. However, Los Blancos have another option much easier: bringing back Mariano Díaz.

The Dominican striker scored the first goal of the game against Monaco in the last game of Ligue 1 for Olympique Lyonnais and he’s now the best newcomer in the French team. Mariano has scored 7 goals in 9 games, improving the stats of some very important strikers such as Sonny Anderson, John Carew, Alexandre Lacazette, Karim Benzema, Fred or Gomis.

Mariano Díaz left a great impression last season, but he didn’t have many opportunities with the BBC or Morata ahead. He had to find a club where he could shine and he’s taking advantage of his chances. Perhaps, this is the best option for the future, especially if we think that Los Blancos would have preference if Olympique de Lyon receive another offer from other club a buy-back clause according to Mariano’s contract. Lyon published that they didn’t include a buy-back clause in the contract.