No problem, our manager already has Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez.

Hakimi for sure isn't good enough for our manager who's doing a wonderful job, both short and long-term.

Besides the fact that Hakimi is a wing back and not a right back, two different positions, the club sold Hakimi to deal with the financial crisis we were facing. Carvajal, until proven otherwise is a better player and right back than Hakimi, so keeping him with the back ups on hand made sense.

Is this the fashionable thing now to forgo logic and to blame everything on Zidane? lol

Well he’s destroying the club for the long term with his fraudulent decisions which led to selling 90% of all the players we had under 25 (except for the most obvious one, that scrub Asensio)

Let’s not talk about how Conte’s 352 wingbacks attack the same as ours used to do during the 3peat (also similar to the way Liverpool use Robbo and Trent)

We probably sold him to balance the books, but behind all this, he wanted to leave because of the way Z treats everyone who doesn’t wink at him. Why would you come here when the only players our magnificent coach can integrate are either french or as talented as Sergio Ramos. Maybe Hakimi is not prime Cafu, but as long as that piece of shit Mendy can start at left back consistently, our Achraf is a God compared to him

Good luck buying 10 superstars over the next 2 mercatos to replace our glorious team of grandpas

PS: Vazquez just made it to 20 in a row. just LAWL

He is destroying what now? You guys have an interesting way of looking at the club. If we are trying to discuss the value of the club then Zidane has done more for Madrid than all those Hakimi, and Reguilon and young players you seem to think are the future of football. They are not, they are ordinary good young players and there are plenty of those in Europe. We sold when we needed money and it’s as simple as that.

we sold Hakimi for less than we got wood foot Mendy for mate. Reguilon too. how much will a Hakimi cost in 2 years time ? 70-80 maybe lol. Reguilon one of the best fullbacks in la liga was disposed for no reason other than promoting another french scrub that cost 50ME

in 2 years time we have to replace carvajal ramos marcelo modric kroos benzema and add another 2 attackers to play alongside benz’s replacement

could have been easier to replace them if we didn’t kick out all the young guns we had, but ...

now, we might as well have zidane lend us a billion euros for his french galacticos, since no player we have seems good enough for even 30 mins a game

Why did we let a player like James go for NADA when the finances where such a problem ? Oh yea, he doesn’t wink at Zizou

In fairness to zidane, we have never been a club knowing for developing kids. Especially from an offensive standpoint. Our best bet has been to send em out and bring them back on loan or buy backs....and even that has not worked ever for attacking players. I dont know that we ever did a loan or buy back for an attacking players who came and beasted for us upon return. That works for defensive guys as we dont like spending too much on em. And it's something I've always stated, we just aren't the side for that

As for james, we had to let him go for peanuts cos if u dlnt play ure value drops, that simple. Napoli didnt want to pay what we asked for cos the man wasnt playing so it didnt make sense. And we didnt want to make the mistake barca is now making with suarez by selling him to atleti. If we held out any longer he wud have gone for free.

An important question shud be, do we keep signing unproven youngsters for 40 to 50 million, or do we sign proven guys for 90 plus who will actually play and contribute.....and not signing a striker for 90 mill then playing him as a rw, or sign an attacking mid then having em play as a cm or dm....that's nonsense

We live in a time of financial crisis, where the club and the manager are insulted by fans because they find it unjustifiable for the club’s financial health, to sell a young player, who is not the first option at the club in his position, for 50 millions.

Not sure what else to say

Yea, I understood the need to sell.

But there are players in the squad on massive wages who aren't doing anything. Ala Marcelo

Hopefully the club can be creative in the summer with its signings. Hopefully the sales make sense as well.

Alaba comes in on a free. Looking forward to more deals like this.

To answer your question directly, it’s better to keep Marcelo for one year, paying his wages than to forego 50 millions euros from a player who is not even in the team.

But I agree there are a lot of high earners at the club like Bale, Marcelo Isco who do not count as much and who need to be sold off. There are already talks about Marcelo leaving, he is done. Same with Isco. But I’m curious to see what we can do about Bale, maybe a buyout to get him off our wage bill. Bale is finished, Tottenham won’t take another year of him being as useless as he is right now. A buyout could help everyone

how much is left in Bale's contract by the summer timeframe? I think it will just be a year. I would hope he would accept something less than the one year salary so he could sign freely with whoever might want him; China, MLS or maybe start his PGA career!

I'm still surprised that Isco hasn't moved in this January market, and given the squad is now at 2 players per position, I would expect the club to now hold onto him for rest of season.

Yes please and thanks

Given the lack of interest in games, I thought it might be an opportunity to talk about what we may expect for next summer!

I gather from posts that most of you are expecting a huge overhaul this summer!

However, although there is some (cautious) optimism regarding getting back to somewhat post covid normal, the budget is still going to be greatly constrained.

Right now, Flo is concentrating on renewals, leading to the impression, that they will go with much of same lineup for next season.

There still is hope of a major signing, but if they do swing a Mbappe or Haaland signing, there won’t be funds for anyone else.

I had said earlier that this season was meant to be season long evaluations and the end results don’t look good. It does seem like Marcelo, Odriozola, Militao, Isco, Mariano and Asensio are done. Probably Jovic as well. And all of the loanees (Ceballos, Brahim, Kubo, Reiner) have not had good seasons. The only possible returns are Odegaard and Reguilion plus there is the addition of Alaba. I doubt if club will give up yet on Rodrygo and Vinicius nor Hazard.

The big disappointment imo is the academy. I don’t see anything there, especially when comparing to Barcelona’s academy players now making inroads. It makes me concerned with the lack of Spanish content with looming retirements and possible exits of Isco, Asensio, they will be hard pressed to meet Spanish content requirements.

So bottom line is, a lot of players I believe are done will likely remain.

Having a front line of Hazard (if he can stay fit), Benzema plus Mbappe or Haaland, will be a good improvement, but the rest of team remains mostly the same. I feel starting lineup is ok, but how long can the 30+ vets be reliable?

The jury's still out on Reinier. He simply hasn't been getting much playing time at Dortmund. He's also been quite unfortunate with when he's had a chance to play, as he's seen some action in matches where the team's been going through a rut, like when Haaland was injured before Christmas. It takes a special type of player to stand out when the rest of the team aren't doing anything positive.

I would also like to point out that that wasn't an attempt to hype up Haaland. His absence simply called for a change in formation, which meant that more fringe players got a chance to play. The team didn't seem mentally up for it, and so it wasn't the best environment for Reinier to show his quality in. I will avoid mentioning Haaland as much as possible.

No need to hold back Thimmy re your country gems. I happen to think both of them are great and I do hope they get to play and star for Madrid. However, I must admit the odds are against (us).

Regarding Reinier, I believe same is likely true for others.
Kubo had a good season last year, but now is with 2nd team on bench waiting for opportunities. Somehow it’s now 2 coaches that aren’t convinced.

Brahim started out well, but has ended up on bench.

Similarly with Ceballos.

Looking at Castilla plus these 4 and the season long impact of Vinicius, Rodrygo, Militao, Jovic, it’s pretty clear the youth movement not only hasn’t panned out, it an dismal failure.

Well, I don't think I have such a strong bias towards Haaland that I would hype him up for no reason, which seems to be a common thing on here. I don't care for the Mbappe vs Haaland comparison either. But I'm definitely prepared to have the bias tag thrown in my face for the umpteenth time, and I'd rather avoid it, because I can't discuss anything without someone assuming I have an agenda, and thus, deviating from the topic of discussion. If I still had gotten enjoyment out of watching Real Madrid play, I probably wouldn't be following Dortmund every week.  

I wish I could share more insight regarding Reinier, but he just hasn't been able to play under circumstances where I'd be able to assess his strengths and weaknesses. When Dortmund play poorly, they're usually pinned in their own half for the majority of their matches. It's difficult to stand out in those situations, unless you're a defender, or some exceptional talent who can do everything on their own.

If i was Flo, I would do this -

Guarantee to Mbappe a salary higher than PSG can offer him (plus very lucrative bonuses + generous commission to his agent) ... in exchange that he stays put in PSG for another year, so that we get him on FREE in 2022.

In the mean while ... the $200 million we would save from this ^ move ... we would use it to buy Haland this summer (especially if BVB fail to qualify for UCL) & save the rest for Mbappe's contract next summer.


What is wrong with this approach? Screw the "Pact with PSG" BS plz.

I don't know what the status is on David Alaba's future, but if Varane and/or Ramos leave, I hope we look for a CB replacement elsewhere. I do like the player, but he turns 29 in the summer, and he doesn't quite look like the player I remember from a few years ago, whenever I watch Bayern in the league these days. The market for high quality defenders is scarce.

If Ramos leaves, we'll need to bring in someone with experience. It looks like Nacho might leave, as well. We might have to gamble on someone who's yet to enter their prime. How's Militao performed this season? Has Zidane played him at all, outside of the last match against Liverpool?

He’s already signed Thimmy. And Ramos isn’t going anywhere. Alaba can play in Varane’s spot, Mendy’s spot or even Casemiro’s spot or a backup to all of these!

futbol_bill wrote:He’s already signed Thimmy. And Ramos isn’t going anywhere. Alaba can play in Varane’s spot, Mendy’s spot or even Casemiro’s spot or a backup to all of these!

Ah. I wasn't aware that it was confirmed, already. Could've sworn that I saw him being linked to Barcelona and other clubs, not long ago.

I suppose that's that then. I do like that he's an athletic and versatile CB, but I'm not expecting great bang for buck, considering his age and him not looking like a standout performer in a relatively shaky defensive side, these days.

I've never followed Bayern on a regular basis, but I have watched them occasionally for several years, and I don't recall ever seeing their defense being as weak as it looks right now. Alba hasn't really been an exception, from what I can tell. Maybe Hans has more insight into his current level of performance.

Alaba is not confirmed, just a very likely signing

Nic picking, Yes Alaba is not signed because club can’t. But there is an agreement that he is on July 1st!

Wrong, Alaba is free to sign an official contract with any club. The fact is that he has not done so, and he has made no public commitment about his choice.

Is it likely that he will sign? Yes. Is he a confirmed signing? No.

He is playing terrible this year, he is just really bad so the hype died. I would be shocked if we invest money in signing him.

He is still a good prospect but he would need time to develop.

I believe that Alaba has not signed because his signing is connected to Ramos

Wherever Ramos goes, or stays, Alaba goes not. Between Real and PSG, I mean

And before you start clamoring about positions, this is not about positions but about the salary