Real Madrid: The positives and negatives of 2022/23 transfer window
Since the day the deadlines were set, Real Madrid’s summer 2022 transfer season has been a roller-coaster of emotions. It was full of mild and powerful rumors, some dating back months and emotions that shifted on a daily basis.
The window is now closed officially, and thinking back on it, there are many conflicting thoughts related to it. Some things that were supposed to happen did not happen, while others that were not supposed to happen did. We will determine whether or not all of this is, in fact, really different from our expectations.
There have been various movements of players in and out of the club by now, with the most notable signings being Antonio Rudiger and Aurelien Tchouameni, as well as other players who returned following loan stints elsewhere.
Several veterans, like Marcelo, Gareth Bale, and Isco, have left following a poetic fifth Champions League triumph in each of their individual cabinets. In recent weeks, Luka Jovic, a number of Castilla players, and Casemiro have all left the club.
Unceasing viewpoints have arisen over Real Madrid’s 2022 summer transfer saga, and we strive to grade the Spanish club’s transfer window using our own judgement and perception of the topic with appropriate backing.
The Negatives
“When you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.” – Ryan Reynolds
There is no better quote to express the drastic decline in aspirations that has occurred during this transfer window. If there was one major move that Real Madrid fans were certain of a year before the window, it was the signing of Kylian Mbappe. When the French national’s move to Real Madrid broke during the previous transfer window, there was almost nothing that could prevent him from joining the club this summer, at least until the unimaginable happened right in front of our eyes.
What happened, happened. Why did this happen, you ask? It is now unimportant. The only thing that matters is that Real Madrid missed out on a galactico signing by the skin of their teeth. This was an even larger slap in the face for Real, who assumed Mbappe would be enough for the squad and thus ruled out signing Erling Haaland. Now, none of them is in Madrid.
In this window, the club’s attitude has been extremely spiritless and lethargic. Florentino Perez and his management were unable to do much to renovate the team. They had little to no influence over the club’s ‘deadwood,’ and were unable to transfer players like Mariano Diaz and Marco Asensio, who, to be candid, provide nothing to the squad and are a reason why the offensive force requires reinforcements.
The club’s stance on Eden Hazard has always been deceptive, and it remains so. Despite being one of the team’s highest-paid players, the player hasn’t seen any action for the merengues since 2019.
What possibly frustrates everyone the most is how a player who gives nothing is so well-protected while a player like Dani Ceballos, who has demonstrably progressed and has excellent prospects, is constantly tried to be sold.
The untimely departure of Casemiro is the final straw in a string of unfortunate circumstances during this transfer window. The club was simply unable to retain the player, and any arguments that “Real Madrid did not want to stand in the way of a club legend” are absurd since stopping a transfer when a player is fervently interested in leaving is one thing, as Paris Saint-Germain did, and trying to persuade and convince a player is quite another, which Real Madrid obviously did not try to do. They let Casemiro depart as if nothing had happened.