Transfer Centre

Real Madrid 'hoping to raise £164m through player sales this summer'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 24 July 2020

Real Madrid are reportedly hoping to raise as much as £164m in player sales this summer, with Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez top of their list to sell.

Real Madrid are reportedly hoping to raise up to €180m (£163.9m) in player sales during the summer transfer window.

Club president Florentino Perez has already ruled out a summer of big spending in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with his focus instead on offloading a number of big-name players deemed surplus to requirements by manager Zinedine Zidane.

Los Blancos have already raised €43.5m (£39.6m) by selling Javi Sanchez and Achraf Hakimi to Real Valladolid and Inter Milan respectively, and Marca reports that at least three more players will follow.

Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez are Madrid's top priorities to push out of the club in order to ease their wage bill, with neither player featuring in Zidane's first-team plans.

Bale in particular has reportedly reached a point of no return at the Bernabeu, although Madrid are wary of cutting his asking price too much nor do they want to loan him out while still having to pay a significant sum of his wages.

Benfica are thought to be interested in Rodriguez, although the Colombian's wage demands are expected to be a hurdle in negotiations.

Madrid are also keen to offload Luka Jovic, who has scored just twice for the club since joining for £54m last summer, although they are only interested in sending the 22-year-old out on loan as they feel that he could still have a future at the club.