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To the right of Zizu: the unique story of Perlan Mandy, the new hero of Real Madrid
He spent months in a wheelchair at age 15, and doctors claimed he could not walk anymore, but Perlan Mandy came back with a lot of willpower and a mischievous smile reminiscent of his idol Ronaldinho.
Like Marcelo, he is an attacking left-back, and also has a great right foot.
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Perlan Mandy
Real Madrid
Michael Yochin
Thursday, February 25, 2021, 11:30 p.m.
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In fact, he became the outstanding acquisition of the summer of 2019. Perlan Mandy yesterday in Bergamo (Photo: Reuters)
Florentino Perez was very busy in the summer of 2019. Eden Hazard fulfilled a dream when he finally arrived from Chelsea for 100 million euros.
Luca Jovic, the hot name in the striker market after a fantastic season in the Eintracht Frankfurt uniform, landed for 60 million euros.
Rodrigo, whose acquisition from Santos was agreed to a year earlier, has officially joined Real Madrid.
And there was also Adar Milito, Porto's promising Brazilian stopper, who was bought for 50 million euros and fainted at the first press conference.
Amid all this hustle and bustle, the addition of Perlan Mandy has gone a bit under the radar.
We gave him the respect he deserved, of course, but the left-back millionaire was supposed to serve as a future successor to Marcelo, while 48 million euros was, in a somewhat bizarre way, a not particularly shiny sum in terms of the club in the period in question.
What has happened since then?
The Tsar's dream has become a kind of nightmare in the shadow of the sequence of injuries, and the Belgian diamond is still having a hard time getting into things in an orderly fashion.
Since his arrival, only four goals have been recorded to his credit.
Jovic never matched the required level, did not justify the commotion around him, scored only twice, has meanwhile been loaned back to Frankfurt - and even there sits mostly on the bench.
Rodrigo is not yet fully mature at the age of 20, and the burden of proof is on him, although he has at times revealed sparks of extraordinary talent in the wing.
And Milito is also a flop, with a fair number of errors in the center of defense.
The outstanding acquisition of the summer of 2019, and by a huge margin, is Mandy, who surpassed Marcelo, put a stake in the lineup, demonstrates stability - and contributes a lot in the offensive part as well.
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Mandy: "I did not even know how to celebrate the gate"
To the full article
Mandy caused the dismissal of Atlanta's most important player.
Froiler gets red (Photo: Reuters)
Always remains a pioneer in character
His most important game came yesterday - the Frenchman was the ultimate hero in the tough first game against Atlanta in the last eight of the Champions League.
For starters, he squeezed an offense from Remo Froiler, the most important player in the rival lineup, and caused his highly controversial dismissal.
The gang from Bergamo was left in numerical inferiority without its navigator in the link, and Real controlled what was happening, but was anemic and uninspired.
In the absence of Karim Benzema, she was left without a real striker, and rarely risked the goal - until Mandy bombed the dramatic victory gate, and more in his seemingly "weak" right foot.
He had already scored from a very tough angle against Granada last season, and also allowed against Hattafa earlier this month, so it was his third goal in the white uniform.
Almost like the Tsar, more than Jovic.
Who knows, maybe he will now also become a scorer on a regular basis, and whoever knows him knows - the potential certainly exists.
Because at the beginning of his career in Paris Saint-Germain, Mandy would serve as a striker, before it was decided that his speed and breaking power would be better expressed along the wing.
Even after being shifted to the defender, the boy continued to cultivate mostly offensive skills.
Ronaldinho has always been the great idol, and he insisted on trying to pass rival players in his part of the pitch as well, unwilling to give up the urge for adventure.
When he played in Lyon he stated: "I will dribble everywhere, even on defense. I was told I might pay a price for that, but I don't care."
No matter how you look at it, this is a worthy successor to Roberto Carlos and Marcelo, and even the affection for the former Barcelona star should not worry Real fans.
Mandy has loved Ronaldinho since the Brazilian's short tenure in the City of Lights.
Mandy's idol.
Ronaldinho in Paris Saint-Germain uniform (Photo: AP, Francois Mori)
Doctors threatened to amputate his leg
As a native of the suburbs of Paris, he was a supporter of Saint-Germain, was very proud to be admitted to its academy, and grew up alongside the Campaigna staff.
However, when he realized he had been pushed aside at 17, he did not hesitate or wait for sifting.
Mandy chose to leave on his own, and even left an angry letter to his coaches detailing the reasons for it.
The goal was to pave the way for himself from below, against all odds, because Mandy always believed in himself.
This belief helped him overcome in his youth obstacles and tragedies that threatened to completely eliminate his future as a footballer.
His father, who accompanied him to all the games and training, passed away when Perlan was 11. Mandy never talked about it with any journalist, and the circumstances of the case are unknown, but he very much likes to expand on the medical problem he faced after three years.
An injury to the left thigh that appeared at a relatively routine onset developed into a particularly severe arthritis.
The boy underwent complex surgery, spent several months in a cast, then another six months in a wheelchair.
Professionals explained to him that his chances of returning to the grass were nil, and he would be lucky if he could walk again without crutches.
One doctor even assumed that the business might deteriorate into amputation.
"I did not believe the black prophecies. I wanted to prove them wrong," Mandy recalled - and the willpower did pave the way for complete recovery.
Became the best defender in France.
Mandy in Lyon uniform (Photo: Reuters)
Following Pogba, Rhyme and Benjamin Mandy
He returned to the grass, and was received with open arms by his coaches at Saint-Germain, but it soon became clear that this train had already passed.
In Paris he was no longer trusted, and the disciplinary violations did not pass quietly either.
Mandy has always been an entertainer who laughs at everyone and is involved in countless pranks.
In the transition to the adult groups, these traits severely damaged his image, as did doubts about his fitness after the prolonged stay in the hospital.
So he left with a slammed door, and went straight to a tiny group of amateurs.
His entourage estimated that this was the end of his ambition to turn football into a profession, but in retrospect it turned out that Mandy was completely right, and luck was also on the side of change.
La Haber scouts have located him, which is always good news.
The club's academy is known for its quality.
Paul Pogba and Riyad Mahraz grew up there and moved on - each in his own way.
Benjamin Mandy also made his first steps there before leaving for Marseille in 2013.
Perlan arrived at exactly this time, and was required to explain to everyone that he had no connection to the previous left-back.
There, too, disciplinary problems accompanied him, and he was almost thrown out of the club along with his good friend Dylan Loaser, but that threat helped him reset himself.
In 2017 he was the best left-back in the second division and moved to Lyon.
In 2018 and 2019 he was the standout in his role in the senior French league.
Then Real was also willing to pay a lot to take him one huge step further.
In Marcello's shoes.
Perlan Mandy (Photo: GettyImages, Juan Manuel Serrano Arce)
A smile reminiscent of Ronaldinho
Zinedine Zidane wanted to sign him in person, and the bond between them blossomed from the first moment.
"Marcelo has more time in the top, but I'm here to fill his place, and if Real brought me - a sign that she believes in me," Mandy declared with typical confidence after his arrival.
Pretty soon it turned out he was more stable compared to the Brazilian, and he plays a lot more than him.
Today, after overcoming the terrible injury of his youth, he is not often injured, compared to Benjamin Mandy at Manchester City - and many consider him a leading French left-back, despite tough competition from brothers Theo and Lucas Hernandez, as well as Luca Dean from Everton.
National coach Didier Deschamps is strict about his time, and in the League of Nations by the end of 2020 he was already a car player.
In one of the games, against Croatia in Zagreb, Mendy started in the right-back position, which is not entirely new to him.
"I have no problem playing in the other wing. Many times I have been told that I have a good right leg, because I worked on it a lot, back in the time in Saint-Germain. "Right in training," he says.
And maybe Atalanta did not know the issue in depth, because they took care yesterday to prevent Mandy from kicking on the left when he conducted with the ball off the field.
So he sent a rotating missile to the right, celebrating the brightest moment in his career so far.
Now the spotlight is on him.
Marcelo should be happy about that too.
The veteran defender is not really jealous of the player who came to take his place, was excited to cook the goal for him in front of Hattafa, and they are friends off the field as well.
There is something light-hearted and Brazilian about Mandy, and it is not for nothing that he sees Ronaldinho as a role model.
Even his wide smile yesterday was a bit reminiscent of his hero.
And there is a reasonable basis to believe that we will see many more such smiles.
The guy is only 25, and his ascent is only gaining momentum.
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