Arbeloa backs Camavinga

Álvaro Arbeloa is not talking about Eduardo Camavinga from a distance anymore. Real Madrid appointed Arbeloa as first-team coach on January 12, 2026, after he had already moved through the club’s academy and Castilla, so his read on which players fit Madrid is now the read that matters inside the building. (realmadrid.com) Camavinga is still only 23, but he is already in his fifth Real Madrid season after arriving from Stade Rennais on August 31, 2021, on a contract that originally ran to June 30, 2027. Real Madrid signed him at 18 after he had already broken into France’s senior national team. (realmadrid.com, realmadrid.com) What makes Camavinga different is that he has never been a one-job player. He came to Madrid as a midfielder, but over the last few seasons he has also been used at left back, which is the kind of emergency role that usually exposes players rather than helping them. (espn.com, wikipedia.org) At Real Madrid, that flexibility is not a side note. A squad that plays in La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup, and the Club World Cup needs players who can survive 50 to 60 games without forcing a full tactical rewrite every time someone is injured. (realmadrid.com, realmadrid.com) Camavinga’s current season shows why coaches keep trusting him even when his role changes. Real Madrid’s official player page lists 35 appearances, 1,865 minutes, 2 goals, 1 assist, and 99 ball recoveries across competitions in 2025-26, which is the profile of a player being used constantly rather than protected carefully. (realmadrid.com) Arbeloa also comes from the exact position group that notices this first. He spent his own playing career at Real Madrid as a fullback and defender, and he has spent the last six years coaching youth teams, Under-19s, Castilla, and now the first team, so he has watched hundreds of games where the difference between useful and indispensable is whether a player can solve two problems at once. (realmadrid.com, realmadrid.com) That is why praise for Camavinga’s physical tools lands differently coming from Arbeloa than it would from a television pundit. Modern fullbacks and midfielders are asked to sprint like wingers, defend open space, receive under pressure, and switch positions mid-match, and Camavinga has already done those jobs in real games for Madrid. (realmadrid.com, espn.com) There is also a timing element here. Camavinga’s original signing was sold as a long-term bet on an 18-year-old, and by April 2026 he has already collected 2 European Cups, 2 Spanish league titles, 1 Copa del Rey, and 2 Spanish Super Cups on Real Madrid’s official honors list. (realmadrid.com, realmadrid.com) So Arbeloa’s backing is really a statement about the next phase of Camavinga’s career, not the first one. Madrid already knows he can help a winning team; the question now is whether a player signed in 2021 as a teenager becomes one of the squad’s fixed points by 2027, and Arbeloa is signaling that he thinks the answer is yes. (realmadrid.com, realmadrid.com)