We already seen most of what Zidane is aiming for. Here’s what I sense will happen.

Courtois;?; Luca

Carvajal; Odriozola
Varane; Nacho
Ramos; Militao
Marcelo; Mendy

Modric, Kroos, Pogba; Valverde, Casemiro, ?

Jovic; Asensio; Rodrygo
Hazard; Vinicius; Brahim

Benzema, De Tomas

I know I’m real speculative re forwards, but looks like no RW coming and with the prohibited price tag on Asensio he is definitely staying and it might just mean a choice of Lucas or Brahim to complete roster.

And I have no idea re backup portero (could be Lunin, but given his age and how little he played last year plus Leganes wanting him back to start, he is better off there) nor the final midfielder reserve.

We won't buy Jovic to play on the right, of that I'm sure.

We won't overcrowd RW and LW with 6 players. Rodrygo will go on loan I believe and De Tomas will be offloaded. Jovic to either play with Benzema in a 2 striker system or in a rotational role for the first season. Asensio should go asap, while Isco has to stay, be it as a rotational option. Should also get rid of modric now with Kroos staying

We need a good RW. Who that is, I don't know.

No way Asensio is leaving with the price tag they have put up.

Similarly Rodrygo has been given assurances he will be with first team Madrid this year, same as Vinicus last year.

They don’t renew a player and then sell him, so both Modric and Kroos are staying.

And whether we like or not Isco has no place on this team and will return value.

I don't think we know Rodrygo has been given assurances. I haven't seen anything about Rodrygo since ZZ has taken over and ZZ coming back changes just about everything. So for my Rodrygo is a question mark, but more likely to be loaned out given the amount of players who play LW.

As for the renewal thing- Kroos probably will stay given the renewal, but Modric's was an automatic renewal according to what Nick posted, so he probably just hit a particular number of appearances or something and got the automatic extension. I highly doubt Modric will still be in Madrid next season. Especially not if we are still trying to get one of Pogba or Eriksen which it is pretty clear we are making attempts.

I’m not sure about anything Deez, but I do know that club went out of its way to help Rodrygo get acclimatized to Spain quickly, one of which was the assurances I mentioned. Granted it was before the season ended, but Zidane was already back with club as it was at the end of SA season. Rodrygo has long been reported to be the better of the two and with his price tag, I really doubt if he would be loaned out. However starting the season at Castilla is not out of the realm of possibilities. Plus given the overloading of LW candidates, I suspect they will try to have some of them on right wing.

I hope you are right about Modric, but I think they will try to make him a rotational mid this season aka Iniesta. Unless the Italians come looking for him again! I also hope you are right about Ndombele. That could be the missing player in my prediction and the player Modric could rotate with.

I read today that there is interest in Isco, again Italy.

And finally, there has not been any word from club re buying a RW! So I assume therefore that either Jovic plays, whether it be as a SS or RW or it’s one of Asensio or Vinicius.

And to Val, if Jovic plays with Benzema, they need a 3rd CF on team and thus the spot for De Tomas!

Courtois
Carvajal - Varane - Ramos - Mendy
Casemiro - Kroos
Pogba - Hazard
Jovic - Benzema

Almost a flat 442 with Pogba playing up on the right and Hazard playing up on the left... Benzema and Jovic as the strikers.

That's how I see it.

Here’s another view of the transformation that Zidane is making!

Last season’s starters:

Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benz, Asensio

Last season’s backups:

Navas, L. Zidane; Odriozola, Vallejo, Nacho, Reguilion; Ceballos, Isco, Llorente, Fede; Lucas, Mariano, Vinicius, Brahim

Last season’s returning loans:

Kovacic, James, De Tomas, Theo, Odegaard

Incoming:

Hazard, Mendy, Jovic, Militao, Rodrygo, plus some midfielder and probably Lunin

The revamping is a mass exiting of reserves, but not one of the starters! Granted they do want Bale gone, but it looks like the only way he leaves is club buying him out!

For sure Hazard comes in to take Asensio’s spot, which is really Ronaldo’s old spot. All the rest, are here as replacements for backups, although it must be stated they will apply, and in some cases succeed in pushing incumbents out of starting lineups.

This alternate point of view suggests that they are not really transforming team, only changing majority of backups. They will only succeed in a transformation when some of the incumbents are sent away from club and obviously that won't be this season!

I don't like this @bill. I think Zidane is making some big mistakes. There are some of those players that were absolutely awful and they are being rewarded with zizous nepotism

It's not "nepotism." I disagree with some of his decisions (that are not only his to make mind you) but they still have reason to them.

N'dombele does not rock my world but i would have gotten him and sold Kroos, but if Zidane is confident he can get Pogba and make him work then i can understand the logic of only adding him and keeping the rest of the midfield. Zidane is counting on players regaining good form.

MTO, that’s my point, Zidane is still sticking with same lineup we’ve had for 4 or 5 years. Mind you, I do welcome some if not all of the acquisitions, but the point is until you start changing the starting lineup, you ain’t doing a revamping. All that’s left for this season is hope he does get a midfielder, that is rapidly becoming highly doubtful and that some of the newcomers do push some incompetents to the bench. But the real revamping is therefore delayed another year, at least!

@Fennec, there isn’t any nepotism that I can see. His son at end of day will still be practice GK and the only other possibility is some exiting players are out of favor because of run ins with his son, but who knows if these stories are true.

Remember Zidane saying a year or two ago, no changes necessary unless they are better than incumbents. He is still sticking with the starting lineup!!!! That’s the issue!!!

That's impossible as we have 2 starters already in Jovic and Hazard. Pogba is also coming, probably another attacker too. Mendy could easily displace Marcelo if he doesnt discover his form. And we don't know about his plans for Fede Valverde

Valkyrja wrote:That's impossible as we have 2 starters already in Jovic and Hazard. Pogba is also coming, probably another attacker too. Mendy could easily displace Marcelo if he doesnt discover his form. And we don't know about his plans for Fede Valverde

Can’t you read? Without a 3rd striker, Jovic is reserve to Benzema. Who knows if Pogba is coming. And Fede, lol, who is he going to push out, only in MTO dreams!

The incumbents are there, with the exception of Bale unless the newcomers push the starters to the bench or out!

futbol_bill wrote:

Valkyrja wrote:That's impossible as we have 2 starters already in Jovic and Hazard. Pogba is also coming, probably another attacker too. Mendy could easily displace Marcelo if he doesnt discover his form. And we don't know about his plans for Fede Valverde

Can’t you read? Without a 3rd striker, Jovic is reserve to Benzema. Who knows if Pogba is coming. And Fede, lol, who is he going to push out, only in MTO dreams!

The incumbents are there, with the exception of Bale unless the newcomers push the starters to the bench or out!

Why not ? It's not like he would be the first young midfielder to play for us. Just because he plays for us and not for another team or that he didn't cost 100m doesn't mean he can't be a good player. Let's see him playing in a functional team and draw conclusions after that

Again, you are missing my point, none of these Jovic, Mendy or Fede revamp the team unless Zidane decides to bench or get rid of existing starters!

As per usual, you're making a ridiculous fuss out of nothing.

Let's look at the squad; Courtois, 2nd GK, Carvajal, Odriozola,
Varane, Ramos, Nacho, Militao, Mendy, and Marcelo. That is a good selection of options and atm I'm confident Zidane will not be negligent with his managing of it.  

Midfield: Modric, Kroos, Casemiro, Fede, and possibly Pogba. This is the place where I prefer if there were more changes but I can understand if Zidane has picked that as the group for his midfield.

Attack: Benzema, Jovic, Asensio, Rodrygo, Hazard, Vinicius, ?Brahim?, and possibly a 3rd striker will likely be our options. It is up to Zidane to see how he manages everything. If it were up to me I would've gotten N'dombele and a great proven RW, but it's rare club will be in exact line with our subjective opinions.

Squad 19/20:

GKs: Courtois, Lunin, Luca
RB: Carvajal, Odriozola
CB: Ramos, Varane, Militao, Vallejo
LB: Mendy, Marcelo
CM: Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Valverde, Isco, Asensio
RW: Rodrygo, Bale
LW Hazard, Vinicius
ST:Benzema, Jovic

This is the way I see it. Ceballos doesnt get along with Zidane, and we are essentially playing without an out and out holding midfielder

Wow, punkfusion. That's a name I haven't seen in quite some time.

Welcome back!

Right, hopefully he sticks around a bit. Also Deez, how much traction is the Van De Beek transfer getting in Holland? If you know that is. Seeing the Telegraph (the Dutch version) talking about it now.

There is no van de Beek transfer traction my man

I don't think there is anything behind it. As far as I am aware, no one has met with his agent or Ajax to discuss terms. This seems like paper talk to me. Everyone just seems to be quoting Marca and Marca has gone even more downhill lately.

Look, I like van de Beek, but if we wanted to sign a midfielder from Ajax, it should have been Frenkie.

And the last thing I will say about van de Beek is that people are really misunderstanding him. I really like him as a player, but it's a complete mismatch. His stats are really misleading because people classify him as a CM. van de Beek is primarily a CAM who can play CM because he is good at pressing. He is a system player first and foremost. We don't play the same system, and we are in a completely different league, how can anyone expect him to replicate the same figures.

I just think people get really carried away because he had good scoring stats for a "CM" even though he's not a CM. His underlying statistics like key passes, expected assists and ball progressions are not the level a club like RM need.

vanDEEZ wrote:And the last thing I will say about van de Beek is that people are really misunderstanding him. I really like him as a player, but it's a complete mismatch. His stats are really misleading because people classify him as a CM. van de Beek is primarily a CAM who can play CM because he is good at pressing. He is a system player first and foremost. We don't play the same system, and we are in a completely different league, how can anyone expect him to replicate the same figures.

I just think people get really carried away because he had good scoring stats for a "CM" even though he's not a CM. His underlying statistics like key passes, expected assists and ball progressions are not the level a club like RM need.

could not have said it better, he is a CAM, and we do not need anymore CAM. This is why i said his profile doesnt even compare to Zidane's primary target, Pogba. In many ways, this is also why i think Zidane doesnt want Eriksen, i dont think Zidane sees him as a CM.

Just wanted to know if there was anything in the Dutch media that making this actually anything solid. Don't trust Marca, AS or Nick tbh.