In January Real Madrid had agreed a deal with Racing Santander to sign a real gem from their team for a mere €4.5 million. That gem is the 19-year-old attacking midfielder Sergio Canales.

In the January Transfer Window, Sergio Canales was the interest of many clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, and others. When this agreement was made with Real Madrid, many prematurely criticized Real Madrid for ruining Sergio Canales's career.

With the advent of Jose Mourinho, it was believed that Sergio Canales would go back to Racing Santander on the loan-deal as agreed with Racing previously, but Jose Mourinho asked the club to arrange for Sergio Canales's inclusion in this year's squad.

Canales is called "Nuevo Guti" by many Madridistas, and quite ironically it is indeed Guti that Sergio Canales is replacing at Real Madrid.

The 19-year-old was very impressive with Racing Santander last season, and has carried on that form in Real Madrid's preseason. He has impressed everyone at Real Madrid so much so that nobody is worried by Kaka's three-month layoff due to a surgery in his left knee.

Jose Mourinho himself has been full of praise for the Spanish U-19 midfielder, and by the look of things Canales will surely be in the starting 11 for Real Madrid this season.

The one thing that I liked most in the preseason games is that Sergio Canales has a hunger for the ball and likes to get on the ball more often, and to get the ball back he even tracks back and tackles, a quality that will certainly make him much more important in Jose Mourinho's new system. And that's not all. He has linked extremely well with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain—the two pillars of Real Madrid's attack.

Real Madrid might have made many mistakes in the past, but as we saw last season the deserving player started over the big signing (Gonzalo Higuain started over Karim Benzema) and the same will happen with Sergio Canales. If he's better than Kaka and Rafael Van der Vaart, he will start over them.

Sergio Canales has a great future and I'm glad he is the future of Real Madrid! Hala Madrid!

Just look at the weight on the backheel pass by Sergio Canales for Gonzalo Higuain, brilliant!

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