Real Madrid's defence of their La Liga and Champions League crowns suffered a body blow over the weekend when Dani Carvajal suffered a serious knee injury during the 2-0 win over Villarreal.
Club captain Carvajal ruptured both his anterior cruciate ligament and external collateral ligament along with tendon damage, ruling him out for at least the remainder of this season.
Carlo Ancelotti's squad is not blessed with defensive depth, with Lucas Vazquez the only specialist alternative on the senior staff.
It is perhaps a stretch to call Vazquez that, given he is a career winger who has been redeployed as right-back cover over recent years.
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Madrid has been heavily linked with a January move into the transfer market to address their shortfall, with long-reported target Trent Alexander-Arnold both a dream and fanciful mid-season solution.
However, Madrid sports daily AS reports that Ancelotti is ready to place his faith in Vazquez for the rest of the 2024/25 campaign.
The report stated that Vazquez is adjudged to have earned the opportunity, having seldom let Los Blancos down when fielded at right-back.
Vazquez could now be set for the busiest season of his career at 33. He has only started 30 La Liga games once in his career and that came during a season on loan at Espanyol back in 2014/15.
