Zidane clears out summer of 2017 signings
Llorente, Ceballos, Theo, Vallejo and Mayoral arrived at Madrid in an effort to fill roles in the second team and eventually move up but it hasn't worked out.
Zinedine Zidane returned to Real Madrid last March with a clear message: "We are going to make changes." His plans are slowly taking shape with several signings including Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic and there are other irons in the fire with Pogba linked amongst others.
Another priority on his list was to clear the squad of dead weight and that means many of the generation of 2017 are facing a future away from the Santiago Bernabéu. Theo Hernández, Vallejo, Marcos Llorente, Ceballos and Borja Mayoral arrived at Madrid two years ago as substitutes for the famous 'B unit' that helped Zidane and Real Madrid win a league and Champions League double during the 2016-17 season. None of them have made the kind of impact expected, however, and most of them will leave this summer.
Zidane's B team failed him after double in 2017
Zidane tried and failed to repeat that success in the two years that followed. That second team, which comprised of Isco, James, Morata and others won them 15 points in five games during their run to a LaLiga title. They also allowed the starters to rest, which fuelled a Champions League title. The tide was high at Real Madrid back then.
For a start, the player like Pepe, James, Morata and Danilo, who made up that team had far more experience than the youth brought in to replace them. The poor form of the generation of 2017 meant nobody in the starting XI felt like they were under pressure and so the level of the entire squad dropped. The nadir for the group was the loss to Leganés in the Copa del Rey and was a main reason for Zidane leaving last summer when he did.
Zidane isn't going to make the same mistakes again and Llorente has already been presented as an Atético Madrid player, Theo Hernández is on the brink of a move to either AC Milan or Bayer Leverkusen, Mayoral has a foot and a half at Real Sociedad, Ceballos has options to go to the Premier League with Spurs and Arsenal interested and Jesus Vallejo is in the show window.