Real Madrid enters the 2022 summer transfer window in great shape. Massive contracts of Gareth Bale and Isco are off the books, and the old generation is slowly weeding out. Overall, the roster is looking very lean, but that does not mean that there are still players the club might lose. With a club like Real Madrid, there are always rumors and we will see what ends up materializing until the end of the summer transfer window. However, there are also guys that Real Madrid needs to stay relevant next season. Let's look at three players they can't afford to lose in the summer transfer window.
Players Real Madrid cannot afford to lose
Ferland Mendy
With the arrival of Antonio Rudiger to play center-back next season, it is unclear what the Real Madrid defense will look like. It is widely accepted that David Alaba and Eder Militao will start, given the fact that their partnership has led to great success for the club. However, in that case, Rudiger was brought on to be a substitute, something he will not take lightly. In another case, Alaba could be moved to left-back, while Rudiger starts with Militao, the more likely of the two options. That then leads Ferland Mendy to lose his starting spot and that could be a problem for the future. If he does not start, Mendy might ask Real Madrid to sell him. They really should not.
If Real Madrid were to sell Mendy, that would mean relying on Alaba and the youngster Miguel Gutierrez for the entire season. With all due respect to both, right now, at left-back, Mendy is better than both. We still do not know how Gutierrez will look after his injury and Alaba is three years older than Mendy. Thus, the best course of action is to keep playing Mendy and look for solutions in the middle of the defense. Mendy, at 27, is close to his prime, has great chemistry with Vinicius Jr, and he is one of the best left-backs in the world when it comes to strictly defending. Selling him might seem like a good deal since it would be financially, but it would hurt Real Madrid long-term.
Casemiro
There were stories floating around that after the arrival of Aurelien Tchouameni, Casemiro might be available for transfer. The Brazilian is the youngest of the famous Casemiro-Luka Modric-Toni Kroos trio, or KCM, and he is still playing at a very high level. It will be a challenge for manager Carlo Ancelotti to work with a midfield this stacked, as it would be for any manager out there. With Modric signing an extension, and Kroos stating that he will end his career in Madrid, Casemiro might look like the perfect sale, as he is the one that could get Real Madrid the most cash. Even if that is true, Real Madrid should not even entertain an offer for the Brazilian DM.
Starting Tchouameni right off the bat would be bad since a place in the Real Madrid lineup has to be earned. Thus, Casemiro should stay for at least one more year to be the starter and, also, mentor the young Frenchman for his first season in Madrid. Casemiro is still the only DM in the world that can just take a player out of the game completely and given the fact that Real Madrid will once again aim for all the titles, they need him. In all honesty, the squad is very good and does not need a ton of new signings, so the money earned by any Casemiro transfer would not end up meaning a lot. The Brazilian should stay at least for one more year.
Luka Jovic
It might sound odd, but Luka Jovic can still play great football. It sounds odd because, since he arrived at Real Madrid in the summer of 2019, Jovic has not looked good for a minute. Yet, when he plays for Serbia and briefly, in the loan spell for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2021, Jovic has looked good. There has to be a mental block for him when playing for Real Madrid and it would be good for the club if they trusted the Serbian striker some more. There are already rumors that he will look to leave and that Real Madrid plan to sell him. They should not.
It is easy to write off a player with this track record, but Real Madrid should know better than to look at a player just through stats. Of course, just three league goals in 36 apps is terrible for a striker, but one more player that had bad conversion rates is Karim Benzema, prior to Cristiano Ronaldo leaving. Jovic is nowhere close to Benzema, but there are certain things that he does well. He can link up play well and his passes have been immaculate when he was able to play. If Real Madrid can give him the trust needed to be the backup striker, Jovic will turn it on when the Spanish team needs it most. All he needs is a bit of confidence and trust from the team.
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