La Liga started last weekend. It is a brand new 2015-16 season, but as Real Madrid played against Sporting Gijon it showed the same old problems of the preseason, and even the Carlo Ancelotti era: lack of goals.
You could say that the last great Real Madrid offensive show was in April 29, 2014 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal. Madrid scored four times against Bayern and eliminated them.
Coming into this season, club president Florentino Perez did not sign a forward player. So, new head coach Rafa Benitez will have to achieve the goals with Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Jesse, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez, who sometimes seem very tangled in their attack positions.
However, although it may seem a desperate and hasty measure, it is not surprising that the club might soon give some minutes of play to a young soccer player called Borja Mayoral, who is only 18.
Born in Parla, Madrid on April 5, 1997, he has scored 50 goals in 2015, counting those scored Juvenil A, Castilla (farm of Real Madrid in the second division) and UEFA Youth League.
Last season wasn’t even the first time that Mayoral passed the 50 goal mark. In 13/14 he accomplished the same while playing solely with the Juvenil A team.
Last time somebody scored 50 goals in a Real Madrid affiliate team was 20 years ago. Raul Gonzalez Blanco, who nowadays wears New York Cosmos uniform, was that player.
Benitez said the Castilla team relies heavily on him. Mayoral works best as a forward area man, but Benitez thinks he needs to help create scoring options, too.
Benitez watched him on tour in Australia and liked what he saw. However, with the exception of Raul, he said there are other young people who have failed to shine at Real Madrid after doing so in the lower divisions, such as Alvaro Morata, Alvaro Negredo and Roberto Soldado.
Injuries and slowness undermine Benzema, Ronaldo is getting older read the article written here by Jose Guzman and a lack of consistency plagues Bale and Jesé (who suffered a serious injury in 2014). All this can open doors to Borja, whose brother, Cristian, plays for a Atletico Madrid affiliate.
At 18 he may be very young, but he already has the experience of being top scorer at Euro U19. At age 18, in his day, Raul had already scored 9 goals in La Liga and won a title with Real Madrid (1994-1995).
Only time will tell if Mayoral will get the chance to be in the Real Madrid starting XI, but surely it is a matter of when and not if, sooner rather than later. Especially considering the drought of goals which the 10 time European Champions are currently suffering through.
