Who Should Real Madrid Sell If They Need to Raise £100M Transfer Fund?

Real Madrid aren't a club who are usually shy about splashing the cash in the transfer market, improving their squad by snaring the best players from elsewhere—often for top dollar.

That approach has been changed completely over the past year, firstly out of respect for a UEFA Champions League-winning squad and then because of necessity; Real had a transfer ban in January that was due to run to the summer 2017 window too, only for it to be reduced to just the one window upon appeal.

If they want to, it's a fair bet that the minimal outlay over the past 20 months—just £25 million spent on Alvaro Morata since the somewhat larger £60 million expenditure in summer 2015—means Los Blancos will have a large bundle of cash sat ready and waiting to be spent on individuals of manager Zinedine Zidane's choosing.

Even so, it's not a guarantee that he'd be able to sign more than a couple of top-end players, with the game's best, the type Real try to target, habitually going for between £50 and £100 million now.

So what if they wanted more? What if Zidane wanted to raise an additional £100 million to spend? Here at Bleacher Report, that's the question we're asking: Who could, or perhaps should, the team offload to raise such funds?

It could be done with a single player, of course; Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale would fetch a nine-figure sum by themselves...but Real would have to replace them, which is difficult to do.

We're attempting to strike a balance of selling big value, but leaving the side still capable of competing on all fronts. To that end, we've identified five players who could be pushed out of the Santiago Bernabeu exit door, raising £100 million in the process without weakening the side for Zidane.

Fabio Coentrao: £5 Million

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Not a huge surprise about the first name on the list; Fabio Coentrao has been unable to win back a place in the Madrid team following his return from a loan spell at AS Monaco, owing to both his own lack of fitness and a general lack of being near his best quality levels.

The Portuguese left-back is at least 18 months removed from his last decent run of matches, but there will still be teams around Europe who remember him at his athletic, penetrative best, and they might be persuaded that anything under a €10 million deal is a gamble worth taking.

Coentrao acknowledged before the turn of the year that his form was worrying, per ESPN FC:

"

Nothing is going my way now, I don't know what's happening. I have to change this. I have to work hard to see if my life changes here, because it hasn't been easy. I keep asking myself what's happening but I don't know what's wrong.

It'll be very tough to get playing time here. Marcelo is the best left back in the world right now. I have to make the most of the minutes I'm given. I feel bad right now and can only change that through hard work.

I have to show on the field that I deserve to be playing for Madrid, which is the best club in the world. If I keep playing like this, I can't play here.

"

Perhaps tellingly, Coentrao has managed just one outing in 2017: a 20-minute cameo off the bench in a 5-0 rout of Granada.

His own words are correct: He can't play here. Real should sell while there's at least some value left in his reputation, if not his ability on show.

Mariano Diaz: £5 Million

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The same transfer fee, but we're moving from the lingering hope that a fallen star recovers his ability, to the promise on offer from another.

Mariano Diaz isn't a promising teenager who has the world at his feet—he's a 23-year-old reserve forward who has had to battle hard to get any time at all in the competitive squad at Real Madrid.

What he has shown, however, is an intense playing style, a willingness to fight his corner and that of the team...and a penchant for scoring goals with little time on the pitch available.

£5 million is possibly underplaying his actual value, but Real Madrid have tended to sell their younger talents for a reasonably low fee in exchange for the possibility of buying them back in a year or two if they make good on their ability with increased game time elsewhere. Mariano isn't going to become a Madrid starting option and should leave to showcase his talents in a first-team setting.

Keylor Navas: £12 Million

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The only first-XI player we're advocating selling, and it's with good reason: Keylor Navas has seen his form drop this season; his value to the team and his stock at the club also dropped accordingly.

Real Madrid are relentlessly linked with a new stopper coming into the club in summer, with the fight to be the new No. 1 appearing to be between two names: David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois, with Marca reporting Real's head of transfers watching the recent Chelsea vs. Manchester United battle between the two.

With one of those two coming in, there's no room or need for Keylor to remain in place, and the Costa Rican would still bring in £12 million—double what Real paid Levante for him—owing to last season's excellent form.

Alvaro Morata: £40 Million

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Would we genuinely advocate Real Madrid selling Alvaro Morata out of choice? No.

Does it appear he has lost the battle to be the team's first-choice striker? Yes.

Morata has the chance to be Spain's starting striker at the World Cup in Russia next year, and as he showed during Euro 2016, he's perfectly capable of taking on the role, but he's unlikely to get the chance to do so if he's not regularly starting at a big club.

Sat on the bench more often than not at Real Madrid, Morata has cut a frustrated figure—and rightly so, given his all-round approach play is frequently better than Karim Benzema's and his strike rate this season is markedly better.

The latest rumours suggest Morata has had enough; AS report he has opted out of the Bernabeu, and Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has him as a No. 1 target.

A rumoured fee of €65 million seems over-ambitious, given Morata has only played 1,400 minutes this season (for context, Benzema has 2,300, Toni Kroos over 3,000) and could push for the exit if he wants to, but he's still going to be a high-cost departure. £40 million, or around €45 million, should do it.

James Rodriguez: £45 Million

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Our final pick, and the most expensive outgoing deal, would be James Rodriguez.

Quite simply, the Colombian deserves to be in the team more often than not, yet has played even less than Morata: 1,300 minutes in all competitions and a measly 680 in La Liga.

He's a megastar, a South American idol and a player who repeatedly shows he has the talent, drive and consistency to perform on the biggest stages.

The 25-year-old has five goals and 12 assists this season despite being a peripheral performer in Zidane's side—that equates to either scoring or laying on a goal every 77 minutes, a quite astonishing rate for someone who so rarely gets the nod from the start of the match.

Despite not being a regular at Madrid for the best part of 18 months under Zidane, James would still fetch a huge fee, £45 million possibly being a little conservative even, but there will be no shortage of offers.

Marca reported Real want to use him as bait to land Eden Hazard, while the Mirror report Liverpool to be one of the interested parties elsewhere.

Rodriguez needs to leave for his own benefit, but from the club's perspective, he'd also go a long way toward bringing in the bulk of the finance to allow Real Madrid to restructure or revamp their team.