Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has said that Arda Guler is now closing in on his debut for the club.
The 18-year-old arrived at Bernabeu from Fenerbahce over the summer, with Los Blancos believed to have beaten a number of clubs, including Barcelona, to his signature for a fee in the region of €20m (£17.4m).
Guler is yet to make his first appearance for the capital giants, though, as he underwent knee surgery in the middle of August and then picked up a thigh problem during the latter stages of his recovery.
The Turkey international has recently been back in training, and although he will not feature against Sevilla in La Liga this weekend, Ancelotti has confirmed that the teenager is "almost ready" to display "his enormous ability".
"He's training well, he's missing a bit of conditioning and in 10 days, two weeks, we think he'll be ready. He can play as an offensive player who can play in many positions, centre forward, playmaker, winger, on his weaker foot, he can play in many places," Ancelotti told reporters on Friday.
"Everyone dedicates time to Arda, he's young and has to adapt. He's not happy because he wanted to start differently but he has all the time in the world to do things well and he's almost ready. He's ready to show his enormous ability."
Guler began his youth career at Ankara-based club Genclerbirligi before making the move to Fenerbahce in 2019, and he went on to represent the Turkish giants on 51 occasions, scoring nine goals and registering 12 assists in the process.
Former Genclerbirligi youth coach Erol Tokgozler recently claimed that Guler "has more potential than [Lionel] Messi" during an interview with AS.
"Messi is the greatest I have ever seen and Arda has great abilities. Messi has already achieved everything and Arda still has to do it all, he is still a child," he said. "But if we talk about potential purely, Arda has more potential than Messi. Although he still has a long way to go.
"His football is in its initial phase, he must play many games to become the player he can be. But, as I say, Arda's potential is better than Messi's. Just talking about potential, of course.
"His ability with the ball at his feet. The thing is, the ball was like another limb, a third foot. He could do anything that set his mind to. And the best of all is that in each situation he had two, three, four or five alternatives, five different plans.
"The position on the pitch didn't matter. He plays football with his mind. The defenders thought when they faced him, how can I stop him?"
"His potential is undoubted, anyone can see it. He has everything to be a great player. But he has only played 30 or 40 games as a professional, he is practically a debutant in elite football...
"When I trained him I told him that he had to play freely, without focusing on defending. Losing the game didn't matter, the main thing was that the player, Arda, improved and grew. Now the situation will be different."
Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militao and Dani Ceballos are also on the sidelines through injury for Real Madrid, while Nacho remains suspended, but David Alaba is back in the squad for the clash with Sevilla. body check tags ::
