A former Real Madrid president has admitted that he faced the same problems that Carlo Ancelotti is currently struggling with.
Despite the announced arrival of Kylian Mbappe, the Spanish giants have struggled to reach their usual standards so far this season.
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The French World Cup-winning superstar was signed on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer – a deal that was years in the making and was believed to usher in a new era of dominance for Los Blancos.
But Galaticos 2.0 didn’t go according to plan – Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat against AC Milan was their second defeat in the Champions League this season.
Meanwhile, they were beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in the El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu last month.
Ancelotti’s side have been criticized for a lack of balance as the coach tries to use both Vinicius Jr and Mbappe together in the same team.
Former club president Ramon Calderon understands the challenges Ancelotti faces after holding the post between 2006 and 2009.
Calderon signed Ruud van Nistelrooy in his first summer at the club from Manchester United, adding him to an attack that already included Ronaldo.
But just six months later, Real Madrid sold the Brazilian icon to AC Milan at the request of then coach Fabio Capello.
Comparing the two situations, Calderon said of Hawksbee and Jacobs, “I think having too many good players is a good problem for the coach, but it’s also a problem.”
“Sometimes you don’t know how to fix the problem and you see, as I said at the beginning, a certain imbalance in the team.”
“I think that Vinicius, there is no doubt about it with Mbappé, is one of the two best players in the world, but they cannot play in the same position.”
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“When I signed Van Nistelrooy from Man United, it reminded me that we had Ronaldo, the Brazilian [former striker Predrag] Mijatovic told me: “Mr President, you can’t play together.”
“Capello insisted on having them and of course in December he told me he came and said: ‘Well, you were right, you have to sell Ronaldo’.”
“Sometimes coaches do things like that. They obviously want to have the best players they can. They think they can solve the problems, but the point is that football is a team game.”
“We play collectively. So you need a balanced team and I think ours is not balanced at the moment. That’s the problem.”
Van Nistelrooy won LaLiga’s Golden Boot in his debut season before winning the league and cup double the following year.
In his three and a half years at Real Madrid he scored 64 goals in 95 appearances.
Ancelotti hopes Mbappe can achieve similar success alongside Vinicius Jr sooner rather than later.
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After losing El Clasico, Real Madrid are already nine points behind Barcelona in LaLiga.
They now occupy 17th place in the Champions League table, although elimination in the league phase is still possible for the reigning champions and 15-time winners.