Zinedine Zidane looks set to clear some more dead wood from his Real Madrid squad this summer with reports suggest James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale are on their way out of the club.
Bale has been out-of-favour under Zidane but still has two years left on his deal at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, worth a staggering £30 million a season. The Wales international is believed to want to see out his contract in the Spanish capital, is already 31 years old and has a long history of injuries, making it difficult for the club to sell.
However, the winger has come out today and said he is open to a return to the Premier League, even claiming that Real Madrid blocked a move last year. If the club can get him off their wage bill it would be huge for the future.
Likewise, James Rodriguez is another big earner who is not in favour with the current head coach. But the Colombian is believed to be headed to Everton in a £20 million deal.
Money for the attacking midfielder and getting him off their wage bill would be a huge bonus for Real Madrid moving forward.
The world footballing giants have already moved Achraf Hakimi on to Internationale in a €40 million move this summer, with Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Odriozola as the options at right-back.
Brahim Diaz, Borja Mayoral, Sergio Reguilon are names all expected to leave Zidane’s squad before the end of the transfer window.
So far, the 2019-20 La Liga champions haven’t made any signings, though have Dani Ceballos and Martin Odegaard returning from loan spells, as well as Odriozola, who spent last season at Bayern Munich.
It will be interesting to see if Real Madrid make any moves of their own this summer as they look to improve on the squad and take advantage of a Barcelona side that appear to be in some decline.
Zinedine Zidane already has a number of talented youngsters in Rodrygo (19), Vinicius Junior (20), Federico Valverde (22) and Eder Militao (22) but there are still a number of ageing players in the first team – Sergio Ramos (34), Luka Modric (34), Karim Benzema (32) and Marcelo (32).
The future certainly looks bright for the record Champions League and La Liga winners and if they can move Bale and James on this summer it would be a huge boost in freeing up some cash for the manager to further bolster his side.
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