Odegaard, Achraf, Bale, James: Real Madrid's plan to save €145m
Gareth Bale, James Rodríguez, Mariano and Lucas Vázquez are set for the exit door with Odegaard, Achraf, Ceballos and Kubo returning to save a few euros.
Real Madrid are looking to save some money in the coming transfer window with the Bernabéu board unlikely to make more than one major splash in the market and at the moment the main name on their shopping list is Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland. Kylian Mbappé remains a long-term target for Florentino Pérez but the PSG forward is considerably less attainable than Haaland, leading Madrid to the idea of shelving any move for the France international until 2021.
In the meantime Madrid will seek to have a relatively frugal summer in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which is likely to have an effect on the market as a whole as clubs across Europe look to tighten their belts during the economic fallout from Covid-19.
Zinedine Zidane has a glut of players on his books and the Madrid boss is considering four of them to bring into the first team squad for the 2020-21 campaign: Achraf Hakimi, Martin Odegaard, Dani Ceballos and Kubo. The four combined have a total transfer value of around €145m and Zidane will also look to offload Gareth Bale, James Rodríguez, Lucas Vázquez and Mariano, who could bring in over €100m in fees. With that in the bank, Madrid can make a serious play for Mbappé in 2021.
Zidane has 11 players out on loan and could look to cash in on any of Andriy Lunin, Luca Zidane, Álvaro Odriozola, Jesús Vallejo, Sergio Reguilón, Oscar and Borja Mayoral, who have a combined market value of over €70m.
Kubo and Rodrygo will vie for one non-EU place
The arrival of Kubo would present Zidane with an issue in terms of non-EU players. LaLiga rules state that clubs can have a maximum of three non-EU nationals on the first team books or two with one player moving between the first team and the reserves. That is broadly what the Frenchman has done this season with Éder Militão, Vinicius and Rodrygo, who has dropped to Castilla, but the Brazilian would have to remain with Raúl's reserves until such time as Vinicius gains Spanish nationality were Kubo to arrive. Zidane also has Reinier to consider, although the Brazilian is likely to spend next season on loan.
Ceballos is another issue. The midfielder was only too happy to move to Arsenal on loan after finding himself out of the picture under Zidane and he will need to be persuaded he has a place if he is to return. Meanwhile, Madrid are also keen on finding a back-up for Casemiro, the only player in Zidane's squad without a natural replacement.