Real Madrid: Analysing the squad depth of Zinedine Zidane's team

Real Madrid were busy this summer and spent over €300m in the transfer window. Zinedine Zidane forced Florentino Perez to make the required signings, some of which were completed and others that will be subject to much speculation in the summer of 2020. After a poor season by their pristine standards, Real entered the transfer market intending to sign players who offer depth and quality to revamp their ageing squad.

Here, we look at Real Madrid's squad depth and analyse all the options available to them for positions all across the pitch.

Goalkeepers

Real Madrid seemed to have the best goalkeeping pair in the world last season when Thibaut Courtois was bought from Chelsea and Keylor Navas refused to leave. Having already loaned out young keepers Andriy Lunin and Luca Zidane to Real Valladolid and Racing Santander respectively this summer, Zidane let Navas know of his desire to stick with Courtois as the first-choice keeper and the Costa Rican was asked to look for a new club.

Navas submitted a transfer request to the club and as his move to PSG drew closer, Real were left with an exigent need of a backup keeper. Thankfully, PSG shot-stopper Alphonse Areola was signed on loan as a transitory backup by the thirteen-time European champions.

Defence

Last season was a disaster where Real Madrid’s flimsy defence was exposed regularly and so was its lack of depth. Academy graduate Sergio Reguilon pipped Marcelo to become the first choice left-back under Santiago Solari and Jesus Vallejo’s recurring injuries meant that Real were left with only three centre-backs for the majority of the season - Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane and Nacho Fernandez.

Zidane returned to Real in March and immediately got down to business as Eder Militao was signed from Porto. Despite being touted as the revelation of the season by many, Reguilon was loaned to Sevilla for a year. Vallejo followed suit with a move to Wolverhampton Wanderers on a one-year loan deal. French left-back Ferland Mendy was brought in to compete with Marcelo. The right-back spot seemed alright and did not need improvements, and both Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Odriozola were retained.

Midfield

The midfield is the most stockpiled yet the most fragile part of Real’s squad this season is the midfield. The midfield trio of Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric is likely to be kept untouched when available, but it is the presence of inconsistent and inexperienced backups that makes the situation tricky.

To begin with, there is no defensive midfielder to cover for Casemiro. Marcos Llorente was recklessly sold to Atletico Madrid for €30m and no one was purchased to fill in for the Brazilian destroyer. Another youngster who received some first-team minutes last season was Federico Valverde. He has been tasked with deputising for Kroos when the German metronome is unavailable or needs rest.

Luka Modric will most likely be Real’s creative engine this season, even at the age of 34. Isco Alarcon and James Rodriguez (who don’t exactly play the same role as him) will be waiting on the sidelines to take over from the Ballon d’Or holder. It is this lack of dependable alternatives that makes the midfield look insubstantial.

Attack

It looked like Karim Benzema was finally set free after Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure, scoring 30 goals last season. Nevertheless, it was a smart move to bring in Luka Jovic to succeed the ageing Frenchman in the long term. Another possibility this season is Zidane going for a combination of two strikers, with both Benzema and Jovic starting upfront. It has been made possible by Mariano Diaz, who ended up staying after weeks of speculation over his future. Mariano will be behind both Benzema and Jovic in the pecking order. It's safe to say that Real have enough options available for the no.9 spot.

Eden Hazard was signed this summer after years of attempting to do so and will automatically be a starter on the left-wing once he returns from injury. He is expected to make an immediate impact on a Real Madrid attack that lacked creativity last season. Vinicius Jr. will be Hazard's understudy and will hopefully look to learn a lot from the Belgian winger.

The early-season lineups suggest that Zidane will trust Gareth Bale to start on the right-wing after making a public U-turn on his opinion of the Welshman. Again, it is the lack of first-team quality behind Bale that will be a concern for Zidane and co. Marco Asensio tore his ACL in pre-season and might not return until March. Lucas Vazquez has proved to be a useful substitute over the years but his dip in form last season suggests that he cannot be consistently relied upon. Brahim Diaz and Rodrygo Goes are certainly not ready to compete for starting spots week in, week out.