It's almost like a return to the Galactico days! Next season Real Madrid will be lining up with an attacking quintet featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Jams Rodriguez and Toni Kroos.
While that looks mouth-watering, one must remember that the first Galactico project begun by current Real president Florentino Perez failed to deliver the trophies as Beckham, Ronaldo, Figo and Zidane failed to gel as a team.
Like the Galactico era, Real are coming off the back of a Champions League title with the fabled Decima achieved in May.
That success was built on a well-balanced 4-3-3 which featured a creative yet disciplined midfield trio of Luka Modric, Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria providing the bedrock for Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema to thrive.
But having spent big bucks on World Cup stars Kroos and Rodriguez, manager Carlo Ancelotti may have to make changes to the way the team lines up.
The Rodriguez move to Real Madrid is discussed in the Monday Rewind
While it is as yet unclear whether any one of Di Maria, Sami Khedira or Isco will remain at the Bernabeu beyond this summer, they will likely be the main fall guys for the newcomers.
Dealing with egos has never been a major issue for Ancelotti, but his biggest challenge will be fitting all the stars into one viable system and inevitably one big name will lose out.
If Ancelotti sticks to his 4-3-3 and feels compelled to field both Rodriguez and Kroos, the intelligent movement of Benzema could lose out. Then again Ronaldo has always preferred playing on the left wing rather than starting as a central striker or false 9, while Bale is also likely to be a fixture on the other flank.
Rodriguez is capable of playing out wide but his best position is in the No 10 role in which he shone at the World Cup. Kroos can also play in that role but is also able to sit deeper beside Xabi Alonso or Luka Modric. However, to drop one of the latter two could be a mistake given Alonso's perennial excellence and vision and Modric's brilliant form last season.
There is also a risk that any tinkering could affect the relative defensive stability they were able to find in the second half of the season.
But as ever with Perez in charge of the club, all that is gold does glitter, even if it has a negative impact on squad cohesion and results.
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