Real Madrid have had several departures thus far, let’s take an in-depth look at everyone who has left the Santiago Bernabeu this offseason.
Alvaro Morata
New Team: Chelsea
Transfer Fee: $83 million
As expected, Alvaro Morata was sold by Real for the second time in his career, this time to Chelsea. Alvaro was simply looking for playing time he could not find in Spain.
With Diego Costa aging a bit and possibly on his way out, and Chelsea thinner on the wings than Real, Morata is guaranteed more minutes. I was sad to see Alvaro go personally, but this is probably the best move for his career.
If given the chance at full first team minutes, it would come as no surprise to me to see him bag 25-30 goals in all competitions this year.
James Rodriguez
New Team: Bayern Munich
Transfer Fee: Loaned out for two seasons, saves $10 million per year on wages.
The Rodriguez saga is now over you could say.
There was a lot of hype with James when he was brought in and he performed well to an extent. The club is behind that now as Rodriguez will serve a two-year loan spell with the Bavarian giants Bayern Munich. He will now likely once again be a big part of a Carlo Ancelotti team looking for a UEFA Champions League trophy that they haven’t won in a few seasons.
Danilo
New Team: Manchester City
Transfer Fee: $35 million
The fan favorite that never really worked out as a Carvajal predecessor is Danilo. He wasn’t bad in his Real Madrid tenure, but he wasn’t good enough to earn a starting position in the squad.
Danilo is a high quality back up, but for $35 million, you can’t pass up that type of sale for a second teamer. The odd thing is that he will likely go from being a back up to still being one in Manchester, but let’s not talk about Pep’s spending problem.
Mariano Diaz
New Team: Olympique Lyon
Transfer Fee: $7 million with a buyback option
The Mariano move seemed really good. Send the Dominican out to get him some quality game time in Ligue 1.
Lyon also sold Lacazette, so now he will get even more minutes. The problem is, after he was sold, Real went on to sell their true 2nd choice striker, Alvaro Morata. So now that Mariano and Morata are gone, they have some issues with who is playing behind Karim Benzema. Regardless, Mariano will get some good experience at Olympique Lyon, and if Real Madrid need him, they can bring him back.
Fabio Coentrao
New Team: Sporting CP
Transfer Fee: Loaned Out
Coentrao quite frankly had his spot snatched up by the 19-year-old, Theo Hernandez.
For Real Madrid’s sake though, having Fabio only loaned out will help them secure depth just in case something goes down. They can recall him back at any time. At 29 too, he is just about hitting the back end of his career, so if all goes well at Sporting CP, Real can sell him on as a potential back up to a big time European Club.
Pepe
New Team: Besiktas
Transfer Fee: Free Contract
Pepe and Real Madrid had kind of a stale going out party, and that is why he wound up at Besiktas. Pepe wanted a two-year deal, but he and Real really couldn’t work things out.
Pepe, because of his age, was not seen in Real’s future plans. I think Pepe will be a solid CB for the Turkish side, and could find himself a starting role.
I didn’t include everyone, just for the fact that guys like Fede Valverde and others didn’t have a massive role in the first team. I tried to focus on players who were seen relatively often in the first team last season.
Next: What does Kylian Mbappé’s decision to leave Monaco mean for Real Madrid?