The upcoming January transfer window of 2022 will be an important month for Real Madrid. Florentino Perez will look to put an end to the Kylian Mbappe transfer saga by finalising and agreeing on a pre-agreement transfer with the 22-year-old during the winter window.
While Mbappe’s pre-agreement will be the objective for January, the club will also look into the possibility of raising funds through player departures. According to Marca, Real Madrid want four players to leave in January if an offer arrives. The four players are Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale, Isco, and Marcelo.
The latter three players have their contracts expiring at the end of the 2021-22 season. Only Eden Hazard is on contract with Real Madrid until 2024 but is reportedly no longer wanted at the club after falling down the pecking order under Carlo Ancelotti this season.
Since the club plan on raising funds for the next summer transfer window, it’s clear as daylight why they are open to the idea of parting ways with four players mid-season. But the question is, can Real Madrid actually manage to sell any of the four players in January? Let’s have a look.
Can Real Madrid possibly sell any of the four players in January?
Let’s start off with Gareth Bale. The Welshman has not played a minute of club football since August and is not expected to return anytime soon after suffering another injury while on international duty with Wales. Due to Bale’s injury record and since his contract expires in six months from January onwards, it is highly unlikely that Madrid would receive an offer for the 32-year-old.
Then there’s Eden Hazard, the club’s record signing who has no role in Carlo Ancelotti’s set-up. Hazard, who is also the club’s highest-paid player at the moment, has only played 348 minutes in La Liga so far. The 30-year-old is far from his best days and is not yet fit enough to complete a full game.
Recently, there have been reports that Real Madrid believes it would be best to move on from Eden Hazard. There has been transfer interest from Chelsea and Newcastle United from the Premier League but both the English sides want the 30-year-old on a six-month loan only. It would be a complicated task to find a suitor for Hazard in the winter window. The best bet Real have at offloading Hazard would be in the summer.
Finally, there’s Isco and Marcelo. The former was once Carlo Ancelotti’s favourite player during his first managerial stint at the Santiago Bernabeu. Ancelotti’s return was considered to be a chance for Isco to turn a new leaf in his career. However, Isco is currently Carlo Ancelotti’s last-choice midfielder in the squad.
The latter should have been sold last summer itself but Marcelo decided to continue at the club and see out his contract. While the Brazilian is a Real Madrid legend, it’s unlikely that the club would want to sell him in January nor would they actually receive a good offer for the veteran left-back. It would be an honourable decision to keep Marcelo until the end of the season and give him a proper sending off as an all-time Real Madrid great.
I’ll conclude by saying that none of these four players would be leaving the club in January. If there are two be any departures mid-season, it would most likely be a loan for Luka Jovic and a permanent transfer for Dani Ceballos.