Quick! Who was our biggest signing of the summer?  Fábio Coentrão the Portuguese workhorse with a bit of flair to go with his honey dipped hair? Good guess, but no.  Raphaël Varane the powerful French defender with a projected talent somewhere near infinite?  He could turn out to be, but not the player my money is on.  Hamit Alintop... Haha good joke, but seriously.  I have it on good authority that the Young Turk is the most important signing.  The simple reason is because he is the only player in our squad that has a chance at filling in for the most important player currently in our squad- Xabi Alonso.

I am not the sort of football fan that likes mountains of stats, so I won't bore you with them, but suffice to say the Basque general is statistically the most significant player on our squad.  I am not trying to argue that he is the best player, or the most consistent player, just that he has the most impact on whether or not our team wins.  Play goes through Xabi, whether it is the simple fact that he completed the most passes of anyone on our team last year, or the complex acknowledgement that he is capable of hitting Arbeloa's chest midstride with his back to the goal from half a field away.

When Xabi does not start, it is like cutting the head off of a chicken- albeit a chicken with tremendous footballing ability.  We still have the chaotically beautiful runs of di María, the viciously powerful play of Cristiano Ronaldo, the fox-in-the-box excellence of Higuaín, the sublime elegance of Özil, etc., but it is without solid direction.  We still score goals, but we don't boss the game like we are capable of doing against 99% of the opposition we face.  No one else could provide that direction- last season at least.

So Nuri Sahin has fantastically huge shoes to fill.  Don't worry, he has shown that he is capable of being one of the most effective footballers in the world with his time at Dortmund.  Beyond just filling in for Xabi, he offers a similar product to Alonso, but from a different mode of production.  If there is one knock of Xabi Alonso, it is that he tends to slow down the game a bit for a team as high octane as Real Madrid; Sahin offers greater mobility to Alonso and has shown that he is capable of operating at a generally higher speed of play.  With a tactical mastermind like Jose Mourinho at our helm, the existence of legitimate options is a truly awesome thing.

Unfortunately we have to wait to see this option.  Nuri Sahin has suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury he received in training and now is not expected back on the pitch until early November according to Marca.  Unfortunately this means he will have added pressure once he finally does make it on the pitch, but luckily the is countered by the fact that *knock on wood* we have an in-his-prime Xabi Alonso more than capable of starting every significant match between now at November.  If all goes according to the betting odds, we should have a dead rubber Champion's League match for Sahin to strut his stuff in if his recovery stays on schedule.  Lots of if's in that statement, but the lad will get his chance for sure

His chances will not only come as a replacement for Xabi, but as a member of our bustling 3 man midfield formation.  I already mentioned Sahin's mobility, which assuming he retains that post injury, gives him the ability to push Khedira or Coentrão out of the starting line-up.  Imagine a player that works almost as hard as Khedira, but isn't tragically anemic in front of goal... because if there is one thing our team needs more of it is goals!

Of course if I had a crystal ball I would be busy placing bets on every single match I could (beach football perhaps?) so I am fully prepared for Sahin to be an unmitigated flop.  For 10 million euros though, there are worse things in the world than taking a gamble on a player like Nuri Sahin.  Attacking wonderkids are a dime a dozen, heck we just shipped off one of our own in Sarabia, but a 23 year old prospective field general? This is the kind of player that deserves a gamble. If not for the tragic circumstances of De La Red this would have been an unnecessary, but Sahin looks to be the perfect player to fill the hole that has existed ever since Rubén's unfortunate retirement.  Sure that gap was probably ear marked for another stupendous cantera product- Dani Parejo, but it seems as though that ship might have unfortunately sailed.

For now I leave it to you, the readers: where do you think Sahin fits in to the puzzle?  Do you think his long term injury will hamper his ability to fit into Mourinho's plans this season?  Maybe a delicious compilation will coax you into commenting.  At the very least I deserve some kudos for going this whole time without a single lame reference to Turkish delight.

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