Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is an expert football manager, but also an expert at people management, and getting on with his superiors. While he has not outwardly shown any malcontent publicly, he has not been given the resources he would have liked this summer.
Reports of Ancelotti being partisan to the addition of another central defender over the transfer window trickled through, and that much has been confirmed by The Athletic. They say that he had two requests this summer, but neither were fulfilled.
The first was that he was keen to bring in another coach onto his staff for this season, but the club told the Italian that he should make do with one of the coaches already working at Valdebebas. Secondly, he feels they are at least one centre-back short this season, with Jesus Vallejo not in his plans, and David Alaba still injured.
Los Blancos are certainly running a risk of a short squad, as they face their longest season ever in prospect, with a possible 72 games over an 11-month period on the way. There have been reports that Real Madrid’s squad are even a little surprised that there have not been more reinforcements brought in, and Ancelotti is already without six players through injury as things stand.
