Dani Ceballos Adds To Zinedine Zidane's Embarrassment Of Riches At Real Madrid

The news that Dani Ceballos has chosen Real Madrid over Barcelona as his next destination shouldn’t really have come as a surprise, given the vehemence in some historical tweets of his towards Catalonia and current FCB players.
Barca will, perhaps, be disappointed that another target has slipped through the net – the third after Marco Verratti and Hector Bellerin – but Zinedine Zidane has an altogether different issue to attend to.
It’s often said that managers love to have the dilemma of good players fighting for a starting spot right across the squad. Indeed, two high-quality exponents in every position is accepted as the ideal scenario, particularly when you factor in that the most successful teams have European football and domestic cup competitions to play on top of league rigours.
However, there comes a point, surely, when the embarrassment of riches endangers team equilibrium.

No one can question Zidane’s incredible management of his squad last season though to refer to them as the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams is more than a little unfair. In any event, the Frenchman, on virtually every occasion during the season, called it just right.
The seemingly impossible task of massaging a multitude of egos and, in general terms, keeping everyone happy, was achieved by and large.
James Rodriguez would disagree as would Alvaro Morata, but with a La Liga and Champions League double in the bag, no one is going to question Zidane’s wisdom.

Now the influx has a bit of Noah’s Ark about it…the players just keep on coming. All aboard.
Jesus Vallejo has returned from his loan to replace Pepe, Theo Hernandez has been bought as back up to Marcelo and Marcos Llorente is back from his spell at Alaves.
Throw Ceballos into the mix and there are four youngsters who will be hammering the door down across 2017/18. At this point Morata will be joining them, as it seems a move to Manchester United is off given the Red Devils pursuit of Romelu Lukaku.
But back to Ceballos, unquestionably the hottest young Spanish footballing property right now. Given his robust personality, it’s almost a given that he hasn’t come to make up the numbers.
And yet, he’ll have to fight for a midfield berth with the likes of Casemiro, Llorente, Toni Kroos, Isco, Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic, the last of whom has already had conversations with Zidane regarding a lack of game time.

BBC are, by Zidane’s own words, ‘untouchable,’ but there is a world-record bid being readied for Kylian Mbappe. Only 18, the Frenchman also isn’t coming to Madrid as an understudy.
It’s all very well having the means to hoover up the best talent, and having a manager that believes and trusts in large scale rotation is a bonus too.
But there comes a tipping point. Real’s hierarchy will do well to remember that if they want to replicate their most recent successes.