MADRID, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid have been quick out of the blocks in the summer transfer market and have all-but finished their summer 'shopping' ahead of the 2019-2020 season, but after bringing players in, the club now has to think about moving others out.
So far Real Madrid have brought in Eden Hazard, Rodrygo Goes, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao at a cost of around 300 million euros (335 million US dollars), with Hazard, Rodrygo and Jovic all aiming to give more firepower to the Real Madrid attack.
However, their arrival means that Real Madrid now have a severe overbooking of forward players and in the coming week the club will have to work on departures rather than arrivals.
As well as Hazard, Rodrygo and Jovic, Real Madrid have Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Mariano Diaz, Marco Asensio, Vinicius Jr, Brahim Diaz and Lucas Vazquez in their squad, while Raul de Tomas and Borja Mayoral also return after loan spells; that's 12 attacking players - way too many.
De Tomas who scored 14 goals for Rayo Vallecano last season looks likely to join Benfica in the coming days and Real Sociedad are thought to be interested in Mayoral, but it's obvious not all of these players can stay in Madrid.
Hazard's preferred position is on the left of the attack, while it will mean that Vinicius, who was one of the few bright spots for Madrid last season, will have to either start on the bench or play on the right, while Benzema and Jovic battle it out to play as center-forward.
That means players such as Asensio, Vazquez and Mariano will all probably have to settle for a place on the bench, which will be frustrating as they look for competitive football and Madrid may look to help finance their summer's spending by selling two or three of the trio.
Rodrygo has already indicated that he would be willing to gain experience playing for the Madrid B-team as Vinicius did in the first half of last season, while Brahim, who gave some interesting cameos at the end of last season after his move from Manchester City, may have to settle for a loan move.
That leaves Bale as the big problem for Real Madrid: the Welsh international, who will be 30 before the season kicks off, is one of the club's top earners and has fallen out with Zinedine Zidane.
Real Madrid would love to sell him, but Bale doesn't look likely to accept a wage cut that any move would almost certainly imply and his agent has virtually ruled out any chance of a loan deal.
It looks as if Bale's future will be a battle of nerves between the club and the player and while some departures could be sorted out relatively quickly, Bale could be in the departure lounge for quite a while before his future is resolved.
