Just 12 ago, there were 37 players in Real Madrid’s first-team squad but the departures of Marcos Llorente to Atletico Madrid and Mateo Kovacic to Chelsea have gone some way towards Los Blancos realising which players they will start the season with.
Madrid received 85 million euros for Llorente and Kovacic, who were not in Zinedine Zidane’s plans for next season, however there are still 35 players currently in the squad. That number will need to be reduced before the start of the season as Madrid will only be able to register 25 players in LaLiga Santander.
The coming days should see that number shrink somewhat as Theo Hernandez is set to join AC Milan, while Borja Mayoral, Martin Odegaard, Raul de Tomas and James Rodriguez are all in advanced talks with sides, and these five should bring in a figure close to 100 million euros.
Once these departures have been formalised, Madrid will need to focus on the more difficult exits, such as Gareth Bale. There will be a few situations which will be problematic, while there could be some surprise departures, too.
Whether it’s the refusal to leave, as is the case with Bale, or a simple delay in negotiations, as found with Keylor Navas, Dani Ceballos and Sergio Reguilon, these exits will be more delicate and will take more time.
The entire first-team squad is expected at Valdebebas on July 8 for the start of pre-season, except those players who featured at the Copa America – Casemiro, Eder Militao and Fede Valverde – as well as those who won the European Under-21 Championship with Spain, Jesus Vallejo and Dani Ceballos.