Real Madrid have sold 80 goals in a year: Cristiano, James, Morata...
Real Madrid have lost a major source of goals in Cristiano Ronaldo, having also dispensed with Álvaro Morata, James Rodríguez and Mariano Díaz last summer.
Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Juventus means Real Madrid have lost a major source of goals - and, with Los Blancos also offloading Álvaro Morata, Mariano Díaz and James Rodríguez last summer, the Portuguese becomes the latest in a line of sharp-shooters to have departed the Bernabéu.
In total, Real have dispensed with 80 goals over the past 12 months: the 20, 11 and five scored by Morata, James and Mariano, respectively, in 2016/17, and now the 44 that Cristiano netted last term.
Cristiano
It is hard to overstate the extent of the void that Cristiano's exit leaves in front of goal at Real. The importance of his scoring exploits was underlined early last season, when the 33-year-old went through an uncharacteristic drought and the likes of Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale summarily failed to bridge the goal gap.
There is nobody on the market capable of offering what he did throughout his nine years in Madrid: namely, an average of 50 strikes a season, and a total of 450 in 438 appearances.
Put simply, Los Blancos have sold a relentless scoring machine, and for just 105m euros. If goals are football's most expensive commodity, then - particularly in the current market - the Vecchia Signora appear to have got themselves a bargain.
Morata and Mariano
Real Madrid's cull of goal-getters began last summer, when they got rid of strikers Morata and Mariano, and attacking midfielder James. Between them, the trio chipped in with 36 in 2016/17 as part of what became known as Zidane's 'Plan B', but ended up making their way to the exit door in search of more game time.
Morata, who was Real's second-top marksman that year behind only Cristiano, was sold to Chelsea for 80m euros, having had to settle for the role of understudy to Benzema, despite being more prolific than the Frenchman (who scored 19).
Aware of Morata's unhappiness over his place in the pecking order, Real let the Spaniard go and, despite that, also sold Mariano to Lyon. The campaign had seen the youngster break into the first-team fold and score five times in just 302 minutes of action; however, it was decided that a switch to Ligue 1 was best for his development.
James
In between those two departures, Real sent James out to Bayern Munich on an initial two-year loan. A fixture in the side under Carlo Ancelotti but a bit-part player under Zidane, the Colombian is a midfielder with a keen eye for goal, and certainly demonstrated as much during his time in the Spanish capital.
Overall, he hit 36, with 11 coming in a final term at Real in which he was the side's fourth-highest scorer, despite making just 20 starts in all competitions.
