Why Lucas Vazquez Will Be the Real Madrid Player to Watch out for in Pre-Season

It is approaching the time for clubs to look ahead to 2016-17, deciding where they can improve their squad and how to approach the new campaign with optimism, in peak fitness and with plans for success.

The summer games and pre-season tours give coaches the chance to monitor players' performances and development, getting an early look at who can play a pivotal part in the upcoming season.

For Real Madrid, there are several players who will bear watching for their progress, ability to add a new dimension to the team or upping their own performances from last season; Raphael Varane is one and the returning Marco Asensio is another. 

There's also a case for Mateo Kovacic to be the biggest of all, but a recent report from La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Marca) claims that the Croatian could be set for a loan switch to AS Roma.

Above all of those, though, is Lucas Vazquez, the winger who has shot to prominence over the last 10 months thanks to a good run in the Real side with some tremendously impactful performances—and earned a place at UEFA Euro 2016 with the Spain national team as a result.

Consistency

Naturally, Lucas did not start 2015-16 as a first choice, having only recently returned from a loan spell with Espanyol. Rafael Benitez was clear that he wanted the winger as a squad option, though, and included him with regularity at the start of his tenure.

Vazquez started the fourth game of the Liga season, a home win over Granada, and featured in six of the first 10 league games, as well as playing the full 90 minutes at Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League.

His pace, ability to run directly at opposition defences and his preference for hugging the touchline meant he was a fine weapon to use both when chasing games and when trying to run them down, but most impressive was Lucas' ability to constantly come up with some form of end product in the final third.

From the fringe players battling for a place in the side—Isco, James Rodriguez, Denis Cheryshev, Jese and Kovacic—it was Lucas who frequently linked best with Cristiano Ronaldo, sliding in the Portuguese forward to shoot and keeping up with him on the counter.

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

As anyone hoping to make it at Real knows, dovetailing with Ronaldo is a pretty good way to get a foothold in the team.

By contrast, Cheryshev was more looking to fill a rotation role when Ronaldo didn't play...and that didn't end well for the Russian, loaned out to Valencia in January and now sold to Villarreal.

Tactical alteration

Lucas doesn't just bear watching for his abilities in possession, however, even though his skill and delivery are what kept him involved and saw his stock rise so much last season.

The 24-year-old also plays a valuable part in the potential growth of Zinedine Zidane as a manager, as fans and analysts look on to see how the French boss develops tactically.

Vazquez is as close to a winger as can be seen at the top end of Spanish football, and he is very different in terms of the areas he plays in to Gareth Bale or James, when either man starts from the right of Real's 4-3-3.

Lucas is adept at stretching play to create spaces infield for others, but he also times his runs particularly well to burst into the area—between full-back and centre-back—available to receive a pass behind the back line. From there, he creates danger by squaring or shooting, but it's all down to his initial movement along, and then off, the flank.

Power Sport Images/Getty Images

Zidane has not yet ventured too much away from 4-3-3, but one or two matches late in the 2015-16 season saw him forced into looking at alternatives due to injuries to Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. Under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti, 4-4-2 was a success, and so it briefly surfaced once more—and Vazquez is almost purpose-built for a role on the side of midfield.

His work rate and endeavour mean he's happy to tuck in, track back against marauding opponents and put in a shift defensively, but he still has the physical capacity to stride forward at pace and contribute in attack, too.

Pre-season is a time Zidane has to use wisely, as that includes trying out new systems, alternative methods of attacking teams and ways to rotate his squad. Lucas should feature heavily in plans for each, even though he's not a guaranteed starter.

Super sub

Lucas isn't a world-class player, but he certainly hits seven out of 10 in many important categories and that makes him a valuable squad option.

One of his most important characteristics—in terms of playing in this Real Madrid squad at least—is his ability to come off the bench and immediately impact on matches, where other subs need time to grow into the game, get a few touches, take on board their tactical role.

CURTO DE LA TORRE/Getty Images

Real's No. 18 has a more simplistic set of directives: get the ball and run, pull wide and make space, keep the opposition full-backs pegged back as much as possible so they cannot themselves contribute to the attack.

That ability to come on after 65 or 75 minutes, and quickly give the team a different dynamic is extremely important. If Real are winning narrowly, he prevents overloads down his flank and gives the team a counter-attacking threat with his speed; if Los Blancos are losing and the offensive approach hasn't worked in the match until that point, he immediately drives forward in a different manner.

In pre-season, results and scorelines don't matter—beyond supporter and media overreaction, that is—but it likely won't be uncommon for Lucas to enter against fatigued defenders late in matches and show his traits, high on confidence after a summer at the Euros with the national team.

His fitness should be high and his game is explosive. Those combined factors, plus opposition defenders still working their way back to peak physical levels, could lead to some exaggerated impacts for Lucas, which will be tick marks for his name heading into competitive action.

Past failures

One final point to note: He's facing an uphill battle for minutes because Lucas directly opposes Bale and Co. for game time, but he is also attempting to buck a trend.

Real Madrid usually have a wide player or two in their squad, but rarely are they first-choice starters, with forwards or No. 10s instead shoehorned into the team somewhere along the line until the true inverted wide forwards—Ronaldo and Bale among them—began to dominate the scene.

PAUL ELLIS/Getty Images

Pedro Leon and Jose Callejon are recent examples of Spanish wide players who couldn't quite have any kind of sustained impact, while Royston Drenthe and Arjen Robben were Dutch wingers blessed with pace and skill, but very little consistency in their times at Real. Fair to say, their careers have gone in different directions since they departed the Santiago Bernabeu, too.

From the current squad, Cheryshev and Jese have been trying to carve out a place in the team for years, and neither have fully succeeded. With the Russian now gone and the latter reportedly considering his future with a year left on his contract, per Marca, Lucas is in pole position to succeed where others have failed.

Pre-season will tell much of whether he can keep his rise going, and despite being unlikely to nail down a regular starting role, there's no question that an in-form Lucas can be a valuable player for Real Madrid over the entirety of 2016-17.

Follow @karlmatchett