- 19 hours ago
Half the Real Madrid squad is up for sale – who will they listen to offers for?
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 19 May 2021 16:54 BST
- 6 min read
Real Madrid’s squad is set for a major restructuring this summer after reports from Spain indicated that they are willing to listen to offers for basically half the players in their roster.
Mundo Deportivo indicates that no less than 10 players are up for sale, and this is in addition to to two stars who could leave the club on a free transfer in Sergio Ramos and Lucas Vazquez.
READ MORE: Haaland transfer fee set at €180m: Man Utd and Real Madrid target going nowhere this summer
The pair currently have deals which run until June, with no successful negotiations on an extension having taken place yet.
In an ideal world, Real Madrid would like to sign both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, and although that may be unlikely, they will attempt to raise sufficient funds to land at least one of them as a new Galactico.
Who will Real Madrid sell this summer?
Isco hasn’t been trusted by head coach Zinedine Zidane for a while now and has been named in the starting XI in La Liga on just five occasions this season, with the rest of his 17 appearances coming from the bench.
Both the player and coach are unhappy with the current situation and it seems a certainty that Isco will leave this summer.
No real surprise that Gareth Bale is up for sale this summer and Real Madrid would probably be open to letting him leave for free if it meant getting his exorbitant wages off the books.
A loan move to Tottenham was meant to see the Welshman get back to his best and either earn a permanent move back to North London, or impress enough that someone else will want to take him off Madrid’s hands.
Due to a serious knee injury, Marco Asensio was limited to just three starts in the 2019/20 season and it would be fair to say he hasn’t got back to his best since returning.
He has made 25 appearances in La Liga in 2020/21 but only has three goals and two assists to his name.
Mbappe effectively plays in his position deep down the ring wing, too, so it would make sense to move him on at the right price.
Marcelo will go down as one of the most legendary players in the club’s history due to his trophy cabinet alone.
The Brazilian has been with Real Madrid for 14 years, and has won five La Liga titles, four Champions League titles, two Copa del Rey titles, and four Club World Cup trophies.
At 32-years-old he is in the twilight of his career, though, and has lost his place in the starting XI to Ferland Mendy.
Mariano Diaz
There was a ‘panic buy’ element when Real Madrid triggered a buy-back clause to purchase Mariano Diaz back from Lyon in the summer of 2018.
He did score 18 goals in the season previous for the French side, but there was a feeling Real Madrid just desperately needed some cover up top for Karim Benzema, which is why he was brought back.
Mariano was given Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous number seven shirt upon his return, and that pressure probably didn’t help either.
He has started just six games this season.
Real Madrid’s original outlay of €60 million to sign Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt will mean that they will probably give the Serbian every chance to make good on the promise he showed in the Bundesliga.
There’s definitely a player in there, but his performances have been so disappointing that he is now back on loan at Frankfurt until the end of the season.
If Madrid can recoup a decent amount of that original fee they paid, they will probably sell.
Alvaro Odriozola is actually a Champions League winner, having been part of the Bayern squad that won the tournament in 2019/20.
However, that hasn’t earned him much kudos back in Madrid as he has been arguably relegated to third-choice right-back behind Dani Carvajal and then converted winger Vazquez.
Injuries have played a part, but Odriozola has simply not made good on his €30m fee from Real Sociedad.
Ideally Martin Odegaard would be a starter for Real Madrid in 2020/21 as it was Zinedine Zidane who allegedly requested the Norwegian’s loan at Real Sociedad be cut short halfway through in order for him to return to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Odegaard started the first two games of the season as Zidane switched to a 4-2-3-1, but after that didn’t work, he was dropped from the line-up and Madrid went back to a tried and tested 4-3-3.
He would make just one more start this season before being loaned out to Arsenal in January. Both Arsenal and Odegaard apparently are keen to make the move permanent.
One Real Madrid loanee at Arsenal that probably will be returning at the conclusion of the current campaign is Dani Ceballos, who has impressed on occasion but hasn’t done enough to earn a permanent move.
He is behind Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka in the central midfield pecking order so the Gunners won’t be looking to spend anything big on bringing him back on a permanent transfer.
Real Madrid paid Porto a whopping €50m to sign Eder Militao in the summer of July 2019.
The problem is – he simply barely ever plays for Los Blancos.
He has had a few minor injury problems, but in 2020/21 he has made just seven appearances in all competitions which is remarkable when you consider the transfer fee.
Clearly not trusted by Zidane.
