Grading Real Madrid on Their 2016 Summer Transfer Window Business
As far as transfer business goes, Real Madrid were perhaps the quietest of all Europe's major clubs this summer, restricting themselves to minimal changes to the senior squad after winning the UEFA Champions League little more than three months ago.
Head coach Zinedine Zidane has repeatedly said how happy he is with the current squad, and club president Florentino Perez echoed those sentiments, with Marca's Laura Rubio reporting him saying: "We have a great squad that is impossible to improve."
As it turned out, that's exactly what will need to be the truth for Madrid this season, after precisely zero transfer deadline-day activity left Zidane with the same squad as he has had for almost all of pre-season and the opening of the 2016/17 campaign, which has already yielded two wins in LaLiga and the UEFA Super Cup.
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So how wise was the decision to not alter the squad, and how well have the club done in the summer window?
Senior switches
When a team has just been crowned Europe's finest, Perez was understandably lacking hesitation to call it impossible to improve—though, of course, it slightly overlooks the fact they weren't the best in Spain's top flight. A coaching change midseason certainly upped results, though, and this summer was ultimately about adding where depth was required.
The transfer of Alvaro Morata was a no-brainer; bringing the former youth academy graduate back from Juventus by way of the buyback clause in the original sale deal was an obvious move to make from both a sporting and financial point of view.
Morata's stock has risen in his two years away, despite not being a regular starter in Turin nor having a tremendous goal record, and that should continue if he is even moderately successful at the Santiago Bernabeu.
While he faces a fight for game time, Morata admitted, per Marca's Hugo Cerezo and Miguel Angel Lara: "If I had not had this year in Madrid, I would have regretted it all my life."
Real needed depth and competition up front, and he offers that. Importantly, Morata also operates in a different way to the usual centre-forward, Karim Benzema, meaning both could feature alongside each other at times.
While no other transfers were incoming, Real's squad has been boosted by one senior member nonetheless: Fabio Coentrao, injured but returned from his year-long loan at AS Monaco.
The Portuguese full-back will provide depth and cover for Marcelo once fit, without costing the club anything in the immediate term. Having not so far impressed since joining Madrid, it's an opportunity for Coentrao to rebuild his reputation as being capable of playing for a top team in Europe.
Grade: B-
Real don't deserve a higher grade because the centre-back positions could have easily been improved and Zidane clearly wanted to add a midfielder. However, not buying for the sake of buying is a big step forward for the club.
Youth progress
Coentrao is back, but so is Marco Asensio, and the 20-year-old midfielder is already making an impact.
Having been a success on loan at Espanyol last term, the step up to becoming a Real Madrid regular is one that looks completely within Asensio's capacity—although fans should prepare for it to be one of stepping stones, up and down, rather than straight-line progression to greatness.
Such is the path most talents must take to reach the top—especially given the competition for places around him.
Elsewhere, young prospects at the club will continue their education on loan in Germany and Spain. Borja Mayoral impacted somewhat last season as a back-up striker and has headed to Wolfsburg for additional game time, while promising centre-back Jesus Vallejo is now out of his Zaragoza-based comfort zone and facing top-flight football with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Both moves are excellent for technical development as well as mental resilience, with the players having to battle for game time in clubs that will demand good service immediately yet have little at stake for long-term player progression.
Burgui, Diego Llorente and Marcos Llorente will all play in LaLiga at Sporting Gijon, Malaga and Alaves, respectively, with the latter two particularly worth watching.
Grade: B
It's down to the youngsters to make the loan deals work, but it's pleasing to see them head to different environments, and at least two of those out on loan have a fair chance of making the grade.
End of the road
Only one incoming deal was extremely quiet from Real Madrid's point of view, but a few were still sold. In fact, Marca's JL Calderon reported a net profit for the window for the club, the first time they hadn't made a loss in a window since 2012/13.
Jese Rodriguez had been bypassed by other talents, and the club did exceedingly well to get €25 million for him from Paris Saint-Germain. Denis Cheryshev's Madrid career was doomed the moment that incident in the Copa del Rey came to light, and the move back to Villarreal will suit his talents, once fit.
Midfielders Omar Mascarell and Alvaro Medran were never really close to making the grade, and while the fees received for them were low, giving them the opportunity to forge a top-flight career elsewhere was the right choice at their age. Alvaro Arbeloa, aged 33 and out of contract, had nothing more to offer, either.
Real Madrid have not lost a single player this summer who could contribute to the season ahead, have not lost anybody they didn't want to sell and have offloaded those who had zero future—all for profit.
Grade: A-
Short of selling a first-team player for a huge fee (and upgrading them) or getting more money for La Fabrica graduates, there's not much more they could have done.
Missed opportunities
It's not a perfect window, either incoming or outgoing, but it's a rare event when a team does manage to hit all the right notes in every regard.
Young striker Mariano has opted to stay at the club for the first half of the season, despite having no assurances over game time, as reported by Marca's Jose Felix Diaz. A goal in pre-season and an appearance off the bench in LaLiga early on this term will give him confidence, but if he makes it to even 500 minutes of game time by the new year, it would be an enormous surprise.
There's also the Isco-James Rodriguez battle to consider.
Both players ended up remaining at the club, and while keeping good-quality internationals shouldn't be considered an overly bad thing, the rivalry for minutes—largely off the bench—simply isn't going to benefit either player unless one quickly establishes dominance and preference over the other.
Sergio Ramos told a press conference on national duty for Spain that, "Isco staying at Real Madrid is great news and makes me happy. We all know what type of player he is, what he is capable of, and he brings a lot to the team."
Nice sentiments from his team-mate, but knowing what Isco is capable of and seeing it on a regular basis are two different things. Real don't need the funds that a sale would have provided, but managing the squad will be a tricky balancing act for Zidane to deal with this season and could easily lead to a year-long sideshow of questioning, headlines and suspicion that could have been easily avoided.
On the incoming front, chases for midfield targets Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante and Andre Gomes ended in defeat, and it is obvious that Zidane wanted one more in that area of the pitch, regardless of how happy he is with the squad.
While Casemiro's fitness will prove crucial over the season, the final missed opportunity must be in having loaned out Diego Llorente, with the young Spaniard having shown with Rayo Vallecano last season that he can handle top-flight football and play extremely well in the holding-midfield role, as well as his natural centre-back position.
In addition, Marca's Diaz suggested the club held an interest in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang even up to the final day of the window—though with readership and interest in deadline day at stake, perhaps there's less truth about upgrades in that area of the team.
Final Grade: B
Real Madrid will be happy overall to head into September with a trophy-winning squad and without any key departures—and prudence in who to target is critical to take forward into future transfer windows.
Improvements could have been made, but the squad is well capable of lifting further titles in 2016/17—if the head coach and the players continue to learn, evolve and work as one.
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