Real Madrid heading towards a summer with no new signings

Posted Sunday, May 31, 2020 by Marca.com

The coronavirus pandemic will see LaLiga Santander matches played in July and Champions League games played in August, but they won't be the only changes.

Can you imagine Real Madrid going a transfer window without making any signings?

It's an impossible thought that has now become reality with the financial restrictions on clubs' spending powers because of the pandemic.

Like other clubs, Real Madrid have lost a lot of their sources of revenue, from ticket sales to museum tours, but the club's board are looking for solutions.

They want to see if the losses made from this season can be somewhat salvaged by the wage cut taken by the players and directors.

Next season, Los Blancos expect to lose around 150 million euros of revenue from playing behind closed doors, with ticket sales and stadium marketing non-existent.

The situation has led the Real Madrid board to plan for a summer without any new signings, with the pursuits of transfer targets being put on hold for now.

Those players in question have been told by Los Blancos to either listen to other offers now or wait a year for their possible Estadio Santiago Bernabeu move.

This isn't just happening at Real Madrid, with every club needing to make budget cuts because of the pandemic.

Halted moves

Erling Haaland and Eduardo Camavinga have been the most talked-about players when it comes to possible new arrivals at Real Madrid this summer, but they're not the only ones.

The pandemic has halted moves for these two players and any more that the Real Madrid board had their eye on.

Signing these players will only become an option if the club are able to sell a large number of their own players.

However, that won't be straightforward. Very few clubs are willing to buy players now, especially Real Madrid's high earners.

If you include loan players on the books at Castilla, Real Madrid could start next season with a squad of 40 players.

James and Bale

The problem now isn't finding new clubs for some of their younger players, except Brahim Diaz who doesn't want to leave, it's finding new clubs for the more experienced members of Zinedine Zidane's squad.

The most difficult of this group to shift will be James Rodriguez, whose wages are too expensive for Atletico Madrid, Gareth Bale, who doesn't want to leave, and Marcelo, who still sees himself as a key member of Zidane's squad.

Real Madrid will only consider buying new players if they can generate 150 million euros in player sales beforehand.

But that's not a problem. The board consider the first team squad as perfectly capable of managing on their own.

All they're missing is a back-up for Casemiro (Camavinga) and a reliable goalscorer (Haaland).