Real Madrid: The 5 biggest challenges Los Blancos face in 2020

Real Madrid still don’t have their primary scorer

Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are atop Florentino Perez’s long-term wishlist, but the keyword there is “long-term”. Real Madrid won’t be able to purchase either of them until 2021 at the earliest, and they may honestly have to wait two more years to add either superstar to their front three.

For now, Real must make do with an ideal starting trio of Eden Hazard, Karim Benzema, and Marco Asensio. And among those three players, only Benzema has proven he can score 20 goals in a single season.

Even Benzema has his issues in front of goal. He was scoring plenty in 2018-2019 and in the first half of 2019-2020, but the second half of the league campaign was a reminder that Benzema is a No. 9 but not necessarily a striker.

Real Madrid won’t be able to buy Haaland or Mbappe in 2020, nor will they be able to purchase a cheaper option. And even if Achraf Hakimi and Martin Odegaard return for the 2020-2021 season, neither player has scored five goals in their respective league seasons. They are world-class, yes, but as creators and not scorers.

Los Blancos still need a superstar who can find the back of the net consistently.