In what has been a record-breaking transfer window, the Champions of Europe failed to create any and also lost one, in what was a calm summer at the Bernabeu. Real Madrid, under Zinedine Zidane, have made no star additions to their squad from before and are reportedly happy with what they have in their squad going into the next season. The club is facing a ban on transfers next summer making their decision to stay away from spending big more baffling. But there is no argument on the quality in the squad already at the club. So with the deadline day now done, here is our review on the dealings of the Spanish giants in the summer transfer window.
Transfer Summary
Ins
Alvaro Morata (Juventus) £25.5m; Marcos Llorente (Real Madrid Castilla); Mariano Diaz (Real Madrid Castilla); Borja Mayoral (Real Madrid Castilla)
Outs
Jese (PSG) £21.25m; Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal) £5.95m; Borja Mayoral (VFL Wolfsburg); Alvaro Medran (Valencia) £1.28; Omar Mascarell (E Frankfurt) £850k; Alvaro Arbeloa (West Ham); Jesus Vallejo (E Frankfurt); Diego Llorente (Malaga); Burgui (Sporting Gijon); Marcos Llorente (Alaves)
What did they get?
It hard to understand how Zinedine Zidane managed to go by the transfer window with just one new addition to his squad and that too by using a buy-back option on Spanish international Alvaro Morata’s contract with Juventus. The manager has decided to use a number of his youth system players, Marco Asensio being one of them who is impressing everyone recently. He has enough depth in the squad even after they let go of a couple of star players, so much so that a couple of star players are still unhappy with irregular game time. Though there is no new face to look forward to for the fans of the club, staying calm in an inflated transfer market now seems to be a wise move.
What did they miss?
Zidane’s Real Madrid side showed their weaknesses in a couple of games in the domestic league that saw them lose out the on the league title to Barcelona for the second year running. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are two huge stars for the club who are close to irreplaceable but Madrid could have got their hands dirty and got themselves a top class cover for the duo. Karim Benzema has also been criticized recently while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was reportedly ready for a move to Spain. But the duo stayed put even after the end of the transfer window which might draw further criticism from the fans. They do have the likes of Isco, Morata and James Rodriguez to cover for the attacking trio but adding a player could have gone a long way in stabilizing the squad.
Verdict
Real Madrid, as already said, have a strong, deep squad that is amongst the best in Europe at the moment. Not many teams cannot afford not to spend on new players at this level yet Real Madrid will enter the new La Liga season with a similar bunch of faces from the previous campaign. This shows the amount of confidence the manager has on the squad and though he would have loved to make a couple of additions to add depth to his squad, Zidane will be relatively happy going into the next season having gotten rid of players who play no role in his side and thus also reducing the wage burned on the club. A number of players have also been loaned out and Zidane will have an eye on them for the future. All in all, though calm, Real Madrid’s transfer window is closer to a success than to a failure.
Rating: 7/10
