13 Real Madrid players at risk of Zidane axe as Spanish giants must balance spending

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Up to 13 Real Madrid players are reportedly at risk of being sold this summer as the club must balance their spending with sales.

Los Blancos endured a miserable campaign last year, finishing 19 points adrift of La Liga champions Barcelona while ending the year trophyless.

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In turn, Zinedine Zidane is expected to oversee a much improved season next year, and in order to do that, reinforcements have already been arriving this summer.

Real Madrid have officially confirmed deals for Eder Militao, Luka Jovic and Eden Hazard, with AS noting that has cost them in the region of €210m+ already.

With that in mind, sales will have to be made to balance the books this summer, and it’s claimed in the same report that Keylor Navas, Jesus Vallejo, Theo Hernandez, Sergio Reguilon, Marcos Llorente, Lucas Silva, Mateo Kovacic, Dani Ceballos, James Rodriguez, Mariano Diaz, Borja Mayoral, Raul de Tomas and Gareth Bale are all candidates to be axed.

Importantly, it’s noted that around €300m will need to be generated from player sales to ensure that Real Madrid don’t fall foul of FFP rules, and so club president Florentino Perez will need to be careful while trying to mastermind a change in fortunes for the club.

It’s a risk though for two reasons. Firstly, Madrid have bought first rather than offloading players initially which now puts pressure on them to find buyers and get those deemed surplus to requirements out of the Bernabeu.

On top of that, they can’t afford to lose too much quality depth either, as that will surely raise question marks over their ability to compete on multiple fronts next year.

In turn, it will be a fine balancing act this summer, one that could determine their success on the pitch and their ability to stay clear of punishment off it.

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