In the Column with Dario Felman: Reserving Judgment on Mbappe's Performance at Real Madrid, Zubimendi's Potential at Man City, and the Hopes for Munain to Bring Spanish Talent to Argentina

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In his latest column for Tribalfootball.com, Valencia and Boca Juniors legend Dario Felman backs Kylian Mbappe to silence his doubters at Real Madrid. Dario also says Martin Zubimendi is likely to resist leaving Real Sociedad midseason for Manchester City hopes more Spanish players will follow Iker Muniain to Argentina.AdvertisementAdvertisement

It hasn't quite clicked for Real Madrid so far this season. Why? Is it Kylian Mbappé's arrival? Toni Kroos' retirement? What are your thoughts?

I believe that Real Madrid fans have a lot of hopes for Mbappé. I understand that he is the Real Madrid player who has sold the most football shirts in the shortest time. In the 7 matches he has played for Real Madrid in La Liga he has not contributed that much yet. It’s not easy to come to a team like Real Madrid and then make out that you are the big shot. Real Madrid are not PSG where he was the star of the team. Madrid’s dressing room is full of winners of trophies like the Champions and leagues too. However, I do believe that Mbappé has the right footballing qualities to become a phenomenon. He’s fast and strong, he hits the ball with both feet.

That said, the problem for Mbappé is that the team has not worked as a team. However, the team still wins matches because they have 3 “monstruos” upfront. So, at any given time one of these strikers is going to score in a match and out of the blue. Mbappé has not contributed that much yet as he has played upfront on the left, in the centre and on the right! Why all these changes?  There are already great players in all those positions like Bellingham and Vinicius and Rodrygo, who are spectacular…they are out of this world. So, the team has not yet found the place where Mbappé can really exploit an area on the pitch. Of his half a dozen or so goals in LaLiga, half of them have been penalties!

Without doubt, people are expecting much, much more of Mbappé. Why? Because he is a distinctive player and a great asset for Real Madrid too.

Regarding Kroos, it is difficult to replace such a natural footballer. During the 10 seasons that Kroos was at Real Madrid, players on all positions of the pitch were scoring goals for the team…including central defenders! Why was that happening? Because of Kroos’s way of playing in the midfield and the order he brought too. He improved Valverde and Modric as players. It’s difficult to replace Kroos’s way of playing with the force and strength that Real Madrid have replaced him with… regarding the way they are trying to play in midfield now, which is a different approach. It’s a different way of playing football. Indeed, it’s a different class of football this season too.

Real Madrid’s attitude is always to aim to win and I believe that Mbappé will adapt with time. Why? Because Real Madrid are true winners, a club that has its own strong identity. However, Mbappé is going to have to be careful because news travels fast regarding him and around the world too. I think that the Swedish incident was fake news but it is a sign that Mbappé is under a lot of pressure now and on a world stage too.

That said, I think Mbappé is going to be a phenomenon for Real Madrid. The club has invested in him and they need him and they love him. The fans are really over the moon to have him too. They have great hopes for him. I’m not going to say that Mbappé is going to become Cristiano Ronaldo or Leo Messi but he is going to leave his mark.  It is to do with his way of playing and understanding football. He is out of this world as a footballer.

What about this injury scare for Lamine Yamal? Are Barça and Spain asking too much from him? What about the tackling he's now receiving - is there a danger he could be kicked out of the game?

Regarding Yamal, this business that we call football must start to realize that this 17 year old kid is a phenomenal footballer and he is going to make history for his club and for Spain too. However, the referees are not looking after Lamal. He’s suffering a lot of deliberate fouls with malice, with the aim of putting him off and even injuring him. Bigger teams like Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are being favoured when referees are giving yellow cards for fouls that deserve red cards.

FC Barcelona have already experienced ongoing problems with Ansu Fati who was a great young player but whose trajectory has been seriously affected by injuries. Pedri was playing too many matches, all the matches available…even the Olympics and for Spain too. It’s too many matches. Gabi got injured and was out for 11 months! Barcelona are going to be in trouble if they don’t look after these young players…including Lamal. These players are still developing as footballers and as people, they are still naïve and they need to be developed more physically, from a muscular point of view. They need to put on 10 kilos of muscle to be more resistant with injuries. Modern football is becoming harder on the pitch.

Also, you cannot ask these young players of Barcelona to be playing such a huge number of matches every season and have the weight of the club on their shoulders in terms of expectations. They have to be looked after better.

What did you make of Ruben Baraja saying Valencia "are no longer in Atlético's league"? Defeatist? Realistic? Is the future of Valencia staying away from relegation these days?

Baraja is a complete realist and he is right to the very end too. When he signed for Valencia CF as manager, he knew what he was getting into. He knew the team was going to suffer. He knew that when he asked for a “car”, they would bring him a “bicycle” regarding new signings. As a club man who played for the team when he was younger, he knows all too well the idiosyncrasy of Valencia CF.

Last season, Baraja confided in young players from the academy in Paterna, Valencia. He put about 7 seven players from there into the first team: Javi Guerra, Diego López, Fran Peréz, Mosquera and more. Last season, they were spectacular and people were talking about Valencia CF qualifying for European places! However, this season, with a lack of real reinforcements and new players who are not really helping the team and players with long-term injuries (Gayà and Diakhaby)…Valencia CF are lacking a “surprise” element of last season with their 4-3-3 formations and counter-attacking football too.

This past summer, there were no new signings of note. They have sold Mamardashvili to Liverpool who was the only one who could guarantee the club a good sale and a respectable amount of money too. (He is now on loan back to Valencia CF for one more season). Their only real striker Hugo Duro got injured early on, which didn’t help the new season at all.

Baraja has to be an absolute realist because he was the one who believed in these young players last season. We have to get out of this awful situation as Valencia CF are currently flirting with relegation. Baraja has to go to these young players and get control of the dressing room. He has to look after them, that they are eating right with a correct diet and that they are not going out and partying. What we call “invisible training” is important…meaning outside of training, when the players are at home.  

Baraja needs to be getting his players together as an entire squad and to look them in the eyes & treat the players as all equals and have a flowing dialogue with them and create unity again. The reality is that the future of how Valencia CF progresses this season is really in the hands of Baraja and his young players to turn things around. It rests on his ability to get the best out of them too.

Zubimendi turned down Liverpool, but now could be joining Man City. Can you see him successfully replacing Rodri in City's midfield?

Regarding Zubimendi supposedly rejecting Liverpool. People forget that in Basque football, only Basques and not Spanish players played back in the day and that included Real Sociedad to a large extent and it still applies to Athletic Bilbao. Indeed, Real Sociedad now have more Basque players playing for their team and coming up the ranks than in a long time back. In other words, for a Basque to represent a Basque club means everything to them, it’s so much part of their identity. In my day as a player, only Basques played for the Basque clubs.

Imagine, for a spectacular player like Zubimendi getting a first-team place at Real Sociedad! It would be for him like a player winning the World Cup. It’s a dream come true for him, to play for the team of his own city… the town of his birth. When Liverpool came for him, his attitude would be to reject that offer and with the idea of giving back everything to Real Sociedad that they gave to him in the first place, going up the ranks as a youth player for the Basque club.

However, the situation has changed with Rodri then getting injured. Luis de la Fuente, Spain’s manager, logically replaced Rodri with his other number 5 who is Zubimendi… and he has played sensationally for Spain ever since. Zubimendi plays very similarly to Rodri. Zubimendi is a young player with a mature head on his shoulders. Mentally and physically, he brings balance to any team.  However, Rodri is the number one player in his position. Without him, Manchester City lose their balance. He is the perfect number 5 for the way City play football.

He defends, he attacks, he scores goals, he hits the ball well, he gets the team moving and the team is based around him. Taking all that into consideration, I would imagine that getting Zubimendi to play for Manchester City is a done deal for next summer. When Guardiola wants a player, he tends to get him. I believe that Zubimendi will play in Real Sociedad for this season. He is a very interesting player with a lot of virtues.

He is ordered on the pitch, he has discipline in defending and attacking. Being smaller than Rodri, he does not stand out as much or have his presence on the pitch but he has a lot of control and balance so his influence is strong on the pitch. I get that impression that Zubimendi puts a lot of effort into his training…like a lion! He’s willing to learn and grow and that’s important too.

Any surprise Julio Soler is still playing in Argentina with Lanus? He has been linked with Liverpool - is he ready for the Premier League at 19?

Julio Soler is the player who has made the biggest impression on me of all the players I get sent videos of…from Argentina, by my footballing contacts over there. Soler has two great virtues. He is Paraguayan on his father’s side and he is Argentinian on his mother’s side. But he has become more Argentinian because he has already played for the national team. The reason I say this is that the Paraguayans are really tough, like the Basques!

I love watching this lad playing football in the flesh and I applaud him too. He plays as a left-back and is fast. I’m not sure if I could compare him to Cucurella as technically I think Soler is better.  He defends well; he wins balls in one-on-one situations. Also, when he attacks…he moves with the speed of a real forward! When he crosses the ball, he always looks up to see who he can send it to…truly looking for the best positioned player who has the chance of scoring a goal. Soler is an intelligent player. Watching him play football fills me with joy.

With Soler’s seemingly fragile physique but great understanding of football, I could compare him to Gayà of Valencia CF but I think he is a better man marker than the Spaniard. Like a lot of Argentinean players, Soler’s talent is natural and not from academy training. His formation comes from the street, from a humble ‘barrio.’ So, he would have to be developed more as a player and person if he moved to a big club. Lanus is a charming mid-table club that tries to play attractive football always and they are always on the hunt for good players, it is part of their identity and part of their DNA. When all is said and done, I believe Soler is ready for the Premier League.

Iker Munaian has had a successful start with San Lorenzo. How has Argentine football taken to him? Could we see more Spanish players following Iker to Argentina in the future?

Iker Munaian is a good player and can be spectacular. He has good technique and being Basque, knows all about sacrifice. So, he combines those qualities as footballer…that of sacrifice and playing well. I believe he has gone to Argentina to experience the passion of football over there. How it is lived in the street and in the stadiums too. Munaian started very well over there. However, San Lorenzo is a bit like Valencia.

San Lorenzo is a club that should always be fighting for the top four of five places but they are currently fighting relegation. So, there is now pressure. The other day, San Lorenzo was drawing 1-1 against ‘Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba’ and San Lorenzo were awarded a late penalty. Iker Munaian is their chosen penalty taker but the Basque had the generosity of spirit to give the ball to their striker to take the penalty instead as a way of boosting his confidence in scoring, which was a really magnanimous gesture.

Unfortunately, the San Lorenzo striker missed the penalty! So, after the match, the manager was furious with Munaian and gave him a real telling off (“bronca”).  Unfortunately, though it was a very noble gesture by Munaian as a person to offer the penalty kick to another player, it damaged him as a footballer. It’s good that the manager has been clear him with though. From now on, only Munaian will take their penalties!

Regarding Spanish footballers going to Argentina, I find the idea delightful. I understand that Sergio Ramos is talking to River Plate and the transfer window is different there. You see, Saudi Arabia is where the money is but Argentina is where the football is. That’s where you can learn about football. Germán Pezzella, the former Betis player, is now with River Plate. The former Sevilla player Acuña is now with River Plate too.

So, the ball is rolling regarding players from LaLiga going to Argentina. Both of these players are Argentinians who are giving something back by returning to their homelands and to learn about football too. On top of that, I do see a real possibility of more Spanish blood players going to Argentina and really trying their best… not seeing it as a place for semi-retirement. It’s a great place for football on many levels.