2018 / 2019 season prediction

we are not selling him, he is asking to leave.

I could have a lot to say about what i love from Kovacic and how he stepped in and delivered elite games for us when it matters, but also how he showed he could not control the midfiled but i am happy we have had him in madrid.

Thiago is european elite, and Lopetegui loves him as a player, so he will fit in perfectly in Madrid.

Ya... Other than his straight line acceleration/speed, Kovacic does nothing for me, is a good backup player to have but is replaceable and i'm sure the club is hungry to find the guy who can progressively take over from Modric. I've read names like Eriksen and Thiago pop up, time to do some top level youtube scouting.

Thiago would be great if he's willing to break Barca hearts...

As far as Kova...  Madrid typically don't block players who aren't regulars if they ask to leave.  Not our style.

I love Kova, he is such a great talent and seems to be a nice character. Hope he doesn't leave as I think he still has lots to improve and is already a great unique midfield player.

If he left he should definitely go for 100m give or take. Can see Liverpool go for him to be honest. Even United could use him, he's for sure much better than Pogboom

I think Kova's current contract has a 40m something release clause.

There are 4 players that have asked to leave, all of them saying they want more playing time. Expect all of them (Kovacic, Llorente, Mayoral, Luca Zidane) to go plus club is listening for offers on Bale, Benzema and are not willing to submit to Ronaldo’s demands. That plus likely departure of Navas leaves a lot of space! Then there is the possiblity of Achraf not making it, and still doubts about Ceballos and Vallejo.

Goal - likely Allison coming in for Navas

Defense - likely Odriozola coming in for Achraf, no other changes in defense.

Midfield - they are said to be keen on Thiago plus they want a more defensive player to be backup to Casemiro. Interesting is Lopetequi was quite content to play Thiago in Busquets spot even when he had DM options available. If he does get Thiago, I wonder if he will retain Ceballos. Given they will play with 4 midfielders, they still likely need another midfielder.

Front line - this is the biggest need. If all of BBC go, there is only Lucas left. Asensio is also available but I think it will be him for Isco primarily. If they plan to play both Isco and Asensio, then it’s only a striker plus backup needed. I really hope the plan is to add 3 scorers, one of them as backup.

We should keep Bale. Get a young player to rotate with him for 1 or 2 seasons. Hazard on the left and Icardi or Lewandowski for #9.

Club is not happy with Bale nor his agent with recent demands that he must start! He is out for sure. Only chance of any of the three staying is Benz if he doesn't get offers and is willing to play backup or Ronaldo, if he backs off his demands and noone is willing to pay him (plus price Madrid sets) what is demanded.

I won't be too sad if we lose Kova. He's a likeable player who's progressed massively since signing for us. But I never thought he was starter quality. You could see the humongous drop in quality when he had to lead the midfield in the absence of Kroos/Modric. He'd make a penetrating run and automatically pass it sideways instead of forward. It was frustrating.

I believe Ceballos has a higher ceiling than both Kova and Thiago. Thiago is surplus to requirements at Bayern. What makes you think he is good enough for our midfield which is better than theirs. We should focus on developing Ceballos instead

If we are set on playing with an extra midfielder he will get plenty of playingtime. Bale will stick out like a sore thumb in Lopes game plan. He should leave for his own good

Benz can stay. I feel he can still be useful but we need to add goals because we don't have many besides Ronaldo. And with the WC doubt Ronaldo will start the season. We need someone to carry the load while he does his preseason later than the rest

Another really good thing about nexr season is the presence of Pintus. That's huge for our players

Looking at our players performance at the world cup it is no wonder we won 3 times in a row. Amazing squad we have got.

How exactly is Thiago surplus to requirements at Bayern?

They have Martinez, James, Muller, Tolisso and now Grotezka who they have high hopes for. He has been called out by their legends as not good enough. And is rumoured to be on the shopping window. Bayern would never entertain the thought of selling a player if they were happy with his contribution

Kova just got extended! so much for yesterday’s rumour?

futbol_bill wrote:Kova just got extended! so much for yesterday’s rumour?

you realize that it's not a rumour when the player himself says he wants to leave right? it doesnt matter that he signed an extension, it matters that today, he said it's better for his career if he leaves.

whether we make it easy or no, that's another question

Did he actually say that or was it someone saying he said that?

I realize this can simply be a club move to up the price, but all of this depends on what Lopetequi actually feels let alone what he may or not said to Kovacic.

My point is you never really know, despite what you may think of source or not!

My own view is he is probably going but likely depends on who they can get, like perhaps Thiago.

I think (and yes Nick it’s only my opinion) that defense is set except for signing Odriozola, midfield starters are set, likely a portero change to Allison, and the big change will be upfront. Secondary issue will be backup and To be careful of not repeating too many young promises.

https://www.realmadrid.com/noticias/2018/07/comunicado-oficial?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organico?vauto=1

What is this spanish speaking people

I see Neymars name there

TVE which is public TV in spain announced that we had offered 310 millions to PSG to sign Neymar

Real Madrid issued an official press release to deny the information and to say it's false.

TVE is a public channel they are not supposed to get into transfer rumours of this level, this is weird and unusual. thus RM quick response. If it was sourced from Marca or AS i dont think they would have cared to reply

Thanks for translating

I assume TVE is like SVT in Sweden and are funded by the government, no? I think there is some sort of truth to the rumour but if we did it behind PSGs back we're just doing a Barca move and I don't like it IMO. But we're already doing the little things in the press such as Flo saying it's more likely that Neymar will win B'dOr with Real than PSG

With this Ronaldo BS, you can see what is likely to happen, Ronaldo being given a small raise and stays for another season. Big change i.e. Neymar or Mbappe put off until next year’s attempt. And we likely now know the real reason why Zidane left!

So questions are do they get rid of Bale and Benz and who (upfront) comes in?

And with Lopetequi changing style, where exactly dies Ronaldo play?

Rumours saying Ceballos will get a larger role in the coming season

What's your opinion guys? Is he world class to start for us?

Officially refuting not one but two rumours involving PSG players (Neymar and Mbappe) and yet, not refuting the Ronaldo to Jjuve signing. Either there is actual truth to it or Madrid is definitely playing hard ball w.r.t Ronaldo's increase in salary.

As for where he would play under JLo, I assume the same place he is currently: central with license to roam wherever.

Re: Ceballos. Absolutely talented midfielder so I'm not surprised he would be given more playing time under JLo.

We're rumoured to be making bids for Mbappe and Neymar, it's just our club was so quick to shoot these rumours down. We didn't have these official statements for nothing lol.

I don't know how we're going to get PSG to sell though. That's the mystery lol.

Not so fast. Our mi will be Casemiro, Modric, Kronos, Isco with possibly Asensio getting time upfront or replacing Modric or Isco. Llórente is likely gone and possibly Kovacic. Lopetequi is looking for 1 or 2 backups. So it comes down to who they pick and how much time will Ceballos get. To answer basic question, yes talent is there but he needs to play. He likely is better off taking offer from Betis to get playing time he needs.

Doc wrote:Officially refuting not one but two rumours involving PSG players (Neymar and Mbappe) and yet, not refuting the Ronaldo to Jjuve signing. Either there is actual truth to it or Madrid is definitely playing hard ball w.r.t Ronaldo's increase in salary.

As for where he would play under JLo, I assume the same place he is currently: central with license to roam wherever.

Re: Ceballos. Absolutely talented midfielder so I'm not surprised he would be given more playing time under JLo.

I suspect that it had to do with how careful we are of our relationship with PSG. Rumours concerning their players were shot down right away and if I recall we had done the same with Verratti few years back.

Odriozola's name popping up, i don't know if i agree with this considering we have Nacho and Hakimi and what it means for the latter. Hakimi could become a good option for both RB and LB situations, maybe like a more physical Arbeloa but looks like Perez wants Spanish names in the team. Also have to keep an eye on Theo's evolution, i am not too optimistic with him.