Arda Guler, Turkey’s starboy, is finally a consistent starter in the Real Madrid Midfield.
After spending majority of the time as a substitute last season, Guler was one of the crucial players during the short term Xabi Alonso was in charge of Madrid.
Under his new manager, Alvaro Arbeloa, Guler started in the manager’s first ever UCL game vs Monaco and bagged an assist to his name.
Yet, he invited talks over something unusual than his performance.
At 20 years of age, it is very strange for somebody to have diabetes, but Guler was doubted to have until clarification arrived later.
The Turkish footballer, played with a continuous glucometer behind the back of his arm for 76 minutes, after which he was subbed off.
During his celebration with fellow teammate, Vinicius Jr. for their fourth goal in the 55th minute, Guler was visibly wearing a continuous glucometer.
Glucometers, in general purpose are used by diabetes patient to check glucose levels in their blood. But a footballer using it, raised the concern over, whether Guler is diabetic.
As the exact reason to why it was used is yet to be known from an official source, there were no credible evidence or source to suggest that Arda Guler is diabetic.
Even though, Real Madrid had somebody like Nacho Fernandez, who played with diabetes, this time it was different.
A general perspective is that, players use glucometers to record glucose levels during play and other different phases such as at rest and training.
This might help them and the team’s medical team to devise a customised nutritional diet based on their body’s response.
This is very common among footballers, often used in training sessions.
No, it's just for health and performance tracking. Other bands aren't allowed in UCL. You should know that. They wouldn't have even transferred him if he were diabetic. https://t.co/Jw0Sc4MyXq
— Justananogirl (@justananogirl) January 21, 2026
Young athletes wear glucose monitors (CGMs) to get real-time data for optimizing fueling, training, and recovery, helping them fine-tune nutrition for peak performance, avoid energy crashes, and understand how their bodies uniquely respond to food and exercise.
— Fayzee 🧠 💼 (@fayzee_utd) January 21, 2026
Manchester United had used these, regularly during their training sessions in 2023.
It was specifically used to understand matchday nutritional strategies for different players and to record their hydration levels.
United’s left back, Luke Shaw was once seen wearing it during a game which proves the methodology.
In Real Madrid’s case, Casemiro had already played with it during a game.
So safe to say, Guler’s usage of a continuous glucometer was for nutritional analysis.
Actually, Arda isn't Type 1 as far as we know (Nacho is, though). He's just using the sensor to track his glucose response and find the best nutritional options. Casemiro used it too. pic.twitter.com/W8Zph3PtSA
— Natalia 🌻 (@_nana_2511) January 22, 2026
Type-2 diabetes among youngsters has been on the rise for a few years now.
Symptoms being very common and unfamiliar to identify. Even Nacho himself had found about his diabetes when he was 12.
But with corresponding diet and careful monitoring, he was still able to play football at the highest level for a sustained period.
Hopefully, Arda Guler is not affected by it, with huge expectations growing about his future.
