Real Madrid look like they need to perform a big overhaul of their squad in the next couple of seasons. Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos are all getting older and might not have much re-sale value.
The introduction of financial fair play also means they can’t just go out and throw millions of pounds around to sign an entire new team. They can still spend more than most, but not enough to rebuild the whole squad.
As a result they might look at exchanging players as a possible way of plugging some of the gaps. James Rodriguez was expected to be sold last Summer, so it’s no great shock to see him linked with a move again in the next few months.
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According to a report by Eldesmarque, Real Madrid are hoping to use him as some sort of collateral as they have interest in signing three current Premier League midfielders.
The players in question are Ruben Neves from Wolves, Paul Pogba from Man United and Christian Eriksen from Spurs. They story suggests they might be able to send James in exchange to reduce the transfer fee.
That wouldn’t make sense in the case of Eriksen, given his contract is due to expire at the end of the season. It’s not clear what Spurs would want to sell him in January, but you have to think it’s less than Real could get for selling James.
Pogba will take a big fee as well as the Colombian for United to consider selling, while Wolves should feel Neves is worth a decent amount of money as well as James.
At this point it’s just paper talk and nothing seems to be close, but it’s interesting to think Real might use this tactic by offering other players in exchange whenever they look to add new signings.
The next few transfer windows at The Bernabeu should be very busy indeed.