Realistic Expectations for This Season for Real Madrid's New Signing Lucas Silva

Lucas Silva sat on the Real Madrid bench for the first time during their 2-1 win over Sevilla on Wednesday and has again been named in the squad for Saturday’s derby against Atletico Madrid.

The capital club paid €13 million to sign Silva from Brazilian side Cruzeiro toward the end of January, and he made it clear at his first press conference that he was keen to get off a quick start.

“I’m ready to get playing as soon as possible,” he explained. “This is all very new to me, but I feel ready to be here.”

But how much can be expected of the 21-year-old between now and the end of the season?

It is clear that Madrid have signed a talented player.

South American football expert Tim Vickery described him as “probably the best passing midfielder Brazilian football has produced in the last few years,” in an interview with Talksport last August.

Bleacher Report columnist Christopher Atkins picked out Silva’s distribution and positioning as his major strengths and described him as “tall, strong and an excellent passer,” in a piece for ESPN FC.

Yet it will clearly take time for him to settle in Madrid on both a personal and professional level.

Silva is the first player to go straight into Madrid’s first-team squad following a direct move from South America since the January 2007 arrivals of Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain and Marcelo.

The tempo of play in Europe will be much quicker than what he is accustomed to, and he will need to evolve both the defensive and offensive sides of his game in order to cope with this change.

Gago, for one, was never able to control the rhythm of matches in Europe to the same degree that he did in South America.

In possession, Silva will need to be sharper and more decisive, while in defence, he will need to be competitive in the tackle and consistently alert to danger in and around him.

Brazil’s Serie A is also a relatively simple league in a tactical sense. While, as per Football Lineups, the 4-2-3-1 formation has now been taken up by the majority of the league's sides, there is much less structured off-ball movement and interchange of position than in Europe.

This, too, will represent a learning curve for Silva.

He has, however, shown himself to be a player who takes a keen interest in improving his game. Per J. I. Garcia-Ochoa of Marca, Silva has been working with a specialised coaching company called Sports Networking for a number of months in order to improve his “cognitive, socio-effective and coordination skills.”

The initial contact was through his agent, Luis Rocha, as explained by one of the company’s founding partners, Jaime Fortuno.

“He told us that he had a very good player with a lot of potential, intelligent and also with the most important ingredient—the desire to improve.”

Silva receives a detailed breakdown of his performance after every match he plays, including videos and statistics that demonstrate the areas of his game that still need work.

His adaptation will, though, be slowed by his physical condition, which was below that of his teammates upon his arrival.

He described himself as “more than 80 percent fit” during his presentation at the Bernabeu. But he was left out of the squad for the match against Real Sociedad a few days later as Carlo Ancelotti was unconvinced that he was ready to take to the field.

“He needs to train to improve his fitness,” he explained, as per Marca. “He isn’t at the same level as the others. He’ll be available very soon.”

Silva’s inclusion in the squad for the match against Sevilla on Wednesday was an indication that Ancelotti feels he is approaching the right level of fitness. But working towards peak condition is still likely to take a few more weeks.

There will be a lot for Silva to take on board in the coming months and a lot of adapting for him to do, both on and off the pitch, as he accustoms himself to Spanish football and life in Madrid.

He admitted at his presentation that he will have to take things “bit by bit,” and it is indeed likely to be a slow process. Ancelotti has been reticent to regularly rotate his habitual starters so far this season, and Silva is therefore likely to be largely limited to cameos from the bench.

His primary goal between now and the end of the season should be to settle in and make a positive impression when called upon. Next season will be when he can really start to make his mark.