Bellingham would be great in Olmo's place for us, tbh. He fits your "physical" midfielder who supports our guys, while being fairly smart and talented in attacking spaces, improving as a passer slowly.
But their 2013-2018 can't be the standard tbf, just like our 08-15 can't remain our standards. And other than PSG there aren't many dominant teams out there, and if anything there is more "variety" in football. Pressing is one of the reasons for that, as many teams create physically monster teams but they are usually not very sustainable.
Madrid needs to live to the standard of current Bayern and Arsenal, they aren't that far off, and with even bigger star than those teams have.
Also, I agree with
@fergus90 a bit, Madrid has been wasteful with many of their signings, more than they like to admit. Tchou especially hurts them the most, Endrick not giving attacking depth. In addition, they took a page from Barca book and are a bit too loyal to their guys now. Rodrygo should have been sold in summer of 2024 the moment Mbappe put his signature on that contract. They could have fooled someone into paying 100M+ for him and reinvested in defense and midfield.
