‘We went through this with Zidane’ — McManaman makes surprise admission amid Mbappe struggles at Real Madrid

Once a member of the famous “Galacticos” squad at Real Madrid, few people are better equipped to break down the inner workings of the current star-studded dressing room at the Santiago Bernabeu than Steve McManaman.

Having added French superstar Kylian Mbappe to an attacking unit already boasting Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, and Jude Bellingham atop the Real Madrid lineup that is coming off a La Liga and UEFA Champions League double, Los Blancos should be pouring on goals and winning games handily.

Instead, that’s not been the case. They sit second in the league table, three points behind Barcelona through 10 games already with 12 fewer goals scored, and they have been repeatedly tested in the Champions League, losing at Lille and avoiding a scare against Borussia Dortmund at home.

Ahead of Saturday’s massive Clasico rivalry match against Barcelona, one big struggle has been fitting Mbappe into the attacking unit, as he and Vini both excel at the same left-wing position.

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Mbappe struggles similar to Zindane’s early days, McManaman says

Fear not, Real Madrid fans — former Blancos and England star McManaman, now an analyst for La Liga broadcast rights-holder ESPN in the United States, has seen this before. In the previous example, things ultimately work out well for everyone involved…well, except maybe for Madrid’s future opposition.

“We went through this with Zizou, to be honest,” McManaman told a group of media previewing Saturday’s match, referring to his former Real Madrid teammate Zinedine Zidane. “He was one that struggled at the time [he arrived at the club], and he was the world’s best player when we brought him in.

“The initial few months he played in three or four different positions trying to find a way to fit in. We had just won the league when Zizou came in, so you automatically think ‘oh we’re gonna be better,’ but actually that attitude of putting square pegs in round holes sometimes doesn’t work.”

McManaman’s diagnosis isn’t without merit. After joining Real Madrid from Juventus in the summer of 2001, Zidane scored just seven La Liga goals and three more in the Champions League his first season at the Bernabeu, assisting 11 more between the two competitions. He actually began with a bang, scoring in four of his first six league games with the club, but he then cooled off significantly, scoring three more the rest of the way.

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Yet he would become instrumental that year down the stretch, scoring in both the Champions League semifinal against Barcelona and the final against Bayer Leverkusen, the latter being the title-winning goal in a 2-1 victory.

If Mbappe finishes this season in similar fashion, his early struggles will be nothing more than a footnote in a truly epic first campaign in Spain.

‘It’s as simple as that’ — McManaman says time the only solution

McManaman believes the same thing is playing out on the pitch currently and that there is no better medicine than time, allowing the players to learn how to gain rhythm alongside one another.

“Madrid last year were a well-oiled machine functioning very well — Rodrygo one side, Vini the other side, Bellingham bursting through the middle, and it worked,” McManaman said. “Then suddenly Toni Kroos is gone, which is a huge part of Real Madrid missing, and Jude’s dropped further back, and Kylian likes to come in from the left where Vini plays.

“They just have to play and work each other out, to be honest. Carlo [Ancelotti]’s not going to do anything about it. Rodrygo is injured, so that will help the situation when it comes to pick the starting 11… but they’re just going to have to find a way to play together. [Ancelotti is] not going to go on the training pitch and say ‘right, Kylian, you play on the right now, and you on the left, you do this, you do that.’ If they’re all fit, they play, because that’s the politics at Real Madrid. Kylian plays and Vini plays. They’re never getting dropped.

“It’s a matter of finding a way to adapt to each other. It’s as simple as that. The big players need to play all the time or there’s chaos upstairs at Real Madrid, so I expect them to play all the time if they’re fit. And I expect them to find a way to adapt to each other because they’re really good players.”

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McManaman says to reach the heights these superstars have, they are good enough to play in multiple positions, so they just need to work out the kinks and they’ll begin to terrorize opponents in time.

“There’s only 11 players against 11 players, there’s only so many positions you can occupy. You know where Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappe… they should be able to play in a number of positions like everyone should. I could play in three, four, five different positions. You might have a favorite one but you should be able to play in three or four positions yourself.

“If I’m standing in one place and my teammate’s a yard away from me, you move out of the way. It’s not necessarily hard, and these players are superstars and at the top of their craft, so it shouldn’t necessarily be a problem for them.”

The perfect time and place to see it click would be in El Clasico, where Real Madrid legends are truly crafted for eternity.