Training camp 2020

A little news plus a couple of questionable news items.

Most of international are now back. I think they still are one or two to come.

Bale returned with a knee injury (that he didn’t pick up in a Gales game!) which meant he trained by himself in gym.

Hazard wasn’t played in either Belgium games due to him not being game ready from his injury last month. Club is basically asking, why the hell did he go?

Mariano was training by himself for past few days but was incorporated today.

I wonder what this means, if anything re possible departures of Bale and Mariano.

Article says Zidane doesn’t feel Reguilion is good enough for Real Madrid despite his successful year at Sevilla and last week with seleccion. Plus the article said Marcelo likely to remain for TWO seasons. I wonder if there is some tension in management re opinions of both Reguilion and To a lessor extent Ceballos. Looks like both are continuing on loans. If club agreed with Zidane, they would accept sale offers for both!

Squad questions remain; Bale, Mariano, Mayoral plus Odriozola/ Lucas / Nacho decision.

Another story, don’t know if it has any validity or not! Apparently club will let Bale go for free and pay 50% of his salary if someone offers? Possible destinations are Man U and Tottenham.

We’re down to the end of that long list of who should go and looks like transfer price and partial salary are negotiable in getting rid of Bale, Mariano and Mayoral. If they succeed with these 3, we are down to 2 players for each position plus practice GK and possibly loser of Lucas, Odriozola decision. Plus the negative influence in dressing room will all be gone.

halamadrid2 wrote:Who is this Ruben Blanco kid I am reading alot about. Reports suggest that Zidane is impressed with him and that he could back up Casemiro

He had a very good season with Castilla. Nick posted about him a few weeks ago.

That exhibition game with Getafe, was behind closed doors, no fans, no cameras. It was the only preseason game with liga (vs La Real) beginning this weekend.

The club is down to 4 guys they don’t plan to have part of this year’s squad and getting deals for them is proving very difficult.

Reguilion - they essentially want to sell him with a buyback option. As long as Marcelo stays at club, there is no room for him in squad, but he is a serious consideration once Marcelo does go. Right now there is an offer from Man U but they don’t want the buyback option. They had a loan possibility with Sevilla given a buy option for following season, but they took too long and Sevilla found an alternative. It does look like he will likely be lost for good!

Bale - they desperately want him gone as he seems happy to collect his salary for 2 more years and play golf. He also is considered a negative influence in an otherwise good atmosphere. Reports are Man U will take him on a loan (i.e. no transfer price) but are willing to pay only half his salary. Bale is saying he will go but demands his full tax free salary. That likely is the only way he goes with Madrid paying half the salary.

Mariano - there was only 1 team, Benfica, interested in him but his salary was the problem (4M! Why the heck did they give a 3Rd option that salary). Now there are no prospects and yet another player insisting on full salary and no playing time.

Mayoral - he is on last year of contract but there is no interest. It did look like he would go to Valencia with Madrid accepting a lower transfer price, but that hasn’t happened. They will likely loan him again and he will be a free transfer next summer. If they did somehow get rid of Mariano, they could keep him as a seldom used 3rd option, but no way with both of them.

The squad numbers are 24. That’s 2 per position, plus Practice GK and Lucas (who confirmed this morning he is staying rejecting an offer from Quatar). Maximum allowed is 25 (Practice GK could be excluded from numbers). Bottom line is only 2 of these 4 can remain. Ideally none of them.

I would have agreed with you Sports, a year ago, but what Zidane did after the Covid break has changed my opinion.

I believe both Modric and Marcelo are in their final year and much like Iniesta will be used primarily as a single half player. I also think he will be easing both Odegaard and Valverde into a starting role. Similarly upfront, you can expect all of Vinicius, Rodrygo, Asensio to get significant minutes. What's questionable to me is how much does Jovic and Militao get to play.

Lucas (as is Nacho) is the ultimate squad player. They are not starters but hard working versatile players. Lucas has only got the minutes because of Bale being so bad. This year, he will likely only get Copa minutes and the odd time as a backup LB.

But it is puzzling that both of them have had much better offers from other teams (in other countries) and have chosen to stay for this squad role?????

But again, this year is all about evaluations.
- from a players perspective, getting an opportunity to show you belong
- from Zidane’s perspective seeing and validating who belongs
- from club’s perspective seeing what are the missing pieces

Looks like of the 4 remaining desired exits, two of them will likely be resolved with Tottenham in next few days.

Reguilion agreement apparently is complete and likely announced tomorrow. It’s a sale to Tottenham for 30M with a buyback option 35- 40M in next two years.

Bale (?! Wow) in advanced discussions for a loan deal with Tottenham. Sounds like no transfer fee, Tott paying salary (great) and Real on the hook for any bonus options he might achieve. I haven’t hear term, but I would assume 1 year, meaning there will still be club options for following year as his contract still has two years. But getting his enormous salary off of this year’s operating expenses is a huge win for club.

And with the other two

Mariano is about to be operated on for tonsillitis which likely will mean he can’t be sold before deadline. I suspect club is stuck with him and his 4M salary.

Mayoral - no news. As I said the other day, if there are no takers for him (sale), I suspect club will loan him for a final year of his contract. Suspect someone will make a late low ball offer for him and it will get accepted.

sportsczy wrote:Looks like we're going to land Delle Ali and/or Alderweireld in the process too... or at least we're trying.

Sports, why would we take either of them? Who would they replace? The only spot I see is CF, where we have Jovic looking for a possible loan and we have 2 (Mayoral and Mariano) that were on the list to leave possibly being his replacement. Neither of the two you suggested are CFs. We are at limits re squad size and it doesn't look like anyone else is leaving!