Why Retaining Lucas Vazquez Is a Key Summer Task for Zidane at Real Madrid

It was impressive and it was pivotal, but more than anything, it was just so Lucas Vazquez.  

The rain was hammering down in the south of the capital, and under gloomy skies Real Madrid's immediate outlook looked rather similar. At the Estadio de Vallecas, Madrid were 2-1 down to Rayo Vallecano in a crunch affair and in uncomfortable circumstances: Lose or draw, and the league title was probably gone; heightening the difficulty were the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal, while Karim Benzema had just limped off. 

The stakes were getting higher by the second, and Madrid needed something, a lifeline. And it was Vazquez who gave it to them.  

Soaring into the air to meet Danilo's floaty cross, the winger struck a sort of looping but pinpoint header from directly above the penalty spot. To get there, he'd beaten two Rayo defenders in the air. As he jumped, he'd taken contact, his body forced almost away from the goal. 

But still, it went in. Perfectly. 2-2. 

Real Madrid of course went on to win that game, and yet almost a month on, Vazquez's act barely registers in the minds of many. Instead, Madrid's escape in Vallecas is remembered as the Gareth Bale game—the day Bale threw Madrid on his back with no one else around and hauled them to victory. 

There's nothing wrong with that. For what Bale achieved that day it's deserved, but still it could have all been very different if not for the most-Vazquez of moments—one of pure effort and nothing else; a contest he should never have won but did; done in unglamorous surroundings and difficult conditions; when it mattered the most and when he'd been called upon; rising above others with bigger reputations. 

It's that that's so Vazquez. And it's why he's now important. 

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

As Real Madrid approach an intriguing-looking summer in 2016, Vazquez suddenly looks like a priority for manager Zinedine Zidane. 

In the team's furious dash to the finish line this season, the 24-year-old has shot to prominence in a way few had foreseen, seizing his chances and grabbing hold of key moments to relieve pressure from elsewhere.

Indeed, along with his crunch goal against Rayo, the winger provided the tie-killing assist for Ronaldo against AS Roma, struck the decisive second goal in a must-win clash with Villarreal and teed-up Bale with a hope-prolonging assist against Real Sociedad. 

Those are just the highlights, too. Just as notable has been his unrelenting industry that's caught the eye of more than a few.

"It's good to be talked about," the academy product said recently, "but now I have to keep working. I have to take my chances whenever the gaffer calls on me."

He has and he does. Vazquez is suddenly a clear favourite of Zidane. The Bernabeu is quickly embracing him. "Zizou's dream?" said Marca in March. "A team full of 11 players like Lucas." 

Vazquez is a dream of a certain kind for a manager. Disciplined, no-fuss, easy to manage and impactful, he's the anthesis of many around him at Madrid, almost aspirin to other headaches.

And it's probably Zidane's task to keep it that way. 

After all, cashing in on a youth product/bargain (Madrid exercised a buy-back option to sign him from Espanyol for €1 million last summer) fresh off a breakout season would make sense on a purely business level to president Florentino Perez. In the market, cashed-up Premier League clubs in particular will linger, capable of offering the emerging forward greater playing time and increased wages, while also appealing to Perez and his customary method of operation. 

It's where Zidane comes in. 

Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Thanks to both the nature of his appointment and his iconic status, the Frenchman carries greater authority than many of his predecessors have at the Bernabeu under Perez.

That's already been seen on the pitch, where Zidane has shaped the side to his designs and not someone else's. That sense of power is potentially significant when it comes to activity in the summer. 

Whereas former Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti had key men taken away from him Rafa Benitez had some imposed upon him, Zidane should have more influence when it comes to shaping the squad. His gravitas means something. So does his instant success. 

Thus, Zidane might have the capacity to ensure the ongoing presence of a player who's hardly in the president's mould but who has embodied the shift witnessed in his team. 

Indeed, when Zidane replaced Benitez in early January, the dynamic he seemingly created led to anticipation for a certain type of football. He was, after all, the Galactico managing the Galacticos, the whole thing expected to bubble to an eruption of Galactico-iness. But no. 

Though Madrid have played with verve and swagger at times, the new boss has shown himself to be quite pragmatic. Casemiro has been prominent. So has Jese. So has Vazquez. What the Frenchman clearly values above all else is discipline, intensity, balance and players with a commitment to playing both sides—guys he can rely on, essentially. 

As such, Vazquez has been emblematic to an extent. With his relentless energy and collective conscience, he's become reflective of the direction Zidane has taken this team, in which work rate and structure are put just ahead of flair and explosiveness. 

It's seen Vazquez grow into a standard-bearer of sorts. An example to those of the periphery. And above all else, a vital contributor. 

Come the summer, it's important he's retained.