The Italian says he will persist playing the pair together but may experiment with several of the other midfielders at his disposal if he feels the need to do so

Carlo Ancelotti has admitted he is “evaluating” the midfield partnership between Luka Modric and Real Madrid new-boy Toni Kroos following the club’s poor start to the season.

Madrid spent €20 million on bringing Kroos to the Santiago Bernabeu from Bayern Munich over the summer, while sanctioning the exit of Xabi Alonso in the opposite direction later in the transfer window.

That decision was greeted with widespread surprise and so far the partnership between Modric and the Germany star has failed to spark into life as the club have stumbled to two defeats in their opening three La Liga games.

“I do not think we need to change anything right now, but we are evaluating this,” Ancelotti told reporters on Friday.

“We have many games until October 5 and we will rotate with both. There are players like Medran, who was with us in pre-season or Marcos Llorente, but the midfield is covered with (Asier) Illarramendi, Isco and Sami Khedira, who will return.”

The former of that trio, Illarramendi, was signed from Real Sociedad last summer and seen as the eventual successor to Alonso’s deep-lying midfield role, only to struggle for playing time under Ancelotti, despite the Italian insisting he remains a big fan of the Spaniard.

“I have confidence in him and I think he will improve as the season continues as he did last season.”

According to Goal