He's very good but I don't think the solution to Madrid's problems. Has great pace, hunger and physical strength on top of a decent technique and finishing but I think he currently gets carried away a lot. Most often he isn't patient enough and makes many runs on the wing, even if he is playing as a center forward so that the penalty area is not occupied when he is playing. His goal scoring is very inconsistent because of that.
In all honesty, I think you want to believe they have had a devastating summer because you want Real Madrid to be punished for not honouring your favourite player enough. The same reason of why you downplayed their current squad last season which was easily on par with every other team in the world, even without Ronnie.
They got rid of Ronaldo because they simply didn't think his salary demands were cost-effective for them any longer. He already was subpar throughout great parts of the season, needs more and more rests and they were obviously not willing to take the uncertainties. That's the cold and rational approach which brought Madrid to the top. There's no loyalty, the club is much bigger than any individual, instead it is about aligned interests for rather brief periods of time. Ask Robben, Sneijder, Robinho, Casillas, Özil and Isco. It is the exact opposite at Bayern so therefore the comparison is fitting. From a rational POV, Bayern shold definitely have gotten rid of Robbery since they are not fit enough to play a complete season as starters and get angry if they are benched but the club's insane loyalty instead lets them constantly give out contract extensions.
Their transfer policy is still on point if you ask me. They get so many promising youngsters for almost laughable fees it is unreal. And they recklessly initiate the transition as soon as they feel it is time for it. You want them to sign established players that directly help the team but this is the exact opposite to the strategy which set them up for their historic CL run. If they spend big it is for players below 25 years and currently, there really isn't any available player around who would directly help them and also is young enough. The only one I could think of is probably Dybala and maybe Icardi (with 25 he's pretty old for Madrid standards). They simply stick to their principles.
By the way, paying 180m for a 18 year old is not a no brainer but a risk which they understandably avoided. Not saying it was the right decision but it is definitely not as clear as you describe it. I doubt that any club which is not boosted by oil money (directly or indirectly, e.g. through a 220m Neymar deal) would do such a thing.
In the end, Madrid still has one of the most talented squads in international football this season as well as a very good coach who could fit perfectly to players like Kroos, Isco, Modric, Ceballos, Marcelo, Asensio and Llorente. Their only weak spot is Benzema and it is still possible that they buy a competitor for him.
Ah and by the way, according to most sources, it was Zidane who didn't want additional transfers, e.g. a Morata replacement (which would've been crucial when Ronaldo was injured and Benzema out of form). So yeah, they'll be fine. Too good to fail.
They’re bad enough to fail, they might win but as it stands they have a worse squad than barcelona and arguably Atleti. Winning nothing is failing, this is Real Madrid. 4 CLs in the past 5 years is already history.
They didn’t let Ronaldo go because his contract wasn’t worth it in the present, they had an agreement just like they did with Zidane and they have with Modric. You’re dreaming and ignoring what every single journalist wrote on the subject again. At best they didn’t believe he’d be worth those wages in 4 years at 37 years old, nothing to with the present... and that’s no insult to absolutely anybody since they’ve been doing that to everybody. Hence why Modric wants to leave too, no top forwards are forcing their way in and they’ve missed out on every top target. They aren’t willing to spend big so they don’t get the best players.
I love how you call Lopetegui a very good manager, do you have any idea who you’re talking about? Come to Porto and speaking his name will immediately get you kicked out of the city. That’s how terrible he was.
Winning three CLs in a row, losing your manager, failing to sign your 10 favourites for the job, settling for Lopetegui while creating a huge dispute in the Spanish NT, going into the summer needing to sign a goalscorer and selling your 45 goal per season forward who just happens to be your best player ever, having your second best player wanting to leave, having Kovacic wanting to leave, failing to sign any forward... Thinking I’m calling it a devastating summer as punishment rather than because it’s an obvious fact is incredible. They’ll win things anyway because they still have plenty of good players, but they’ll win in a lot less than what they could have won.
They’ve won 3 CLs in a row and willingly killed every chance they had of winning another one next season for fecks sake. It’s beyond stupid. Generations like these don’t grow on trees. You talk about their brilliant young players who will most likely not even get close to being starters for Real Madrid nevermind hit the heights that Zidane team was doing. You talk about Ceballos and Llorente, who the feck are those? Vallejo, Valverde, Theo hernandez, Odriozola, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior They’ve destroyed their core of legends not after they were done, but in the middle of it. And they did it in order to buy those young players who will never be fit to tie their laces...
You claim their only weak spot is Benzema when their midfield was dying and calling for improvements last season, Kroos didn’t even bother last season so this season it will probably be worse, Bale is their only forward who is consistently great and he’ll most likely get injured for half the season, Carvajal was terrible last season, Marcelo still has no replacement, they’ll continuously get exposed down the wings defensively as their defense has obviously had loads of problems. Difference is now they don’t have Ronaldo to bail them out in attack or his back to hide behind while he takes the criticism. So yes, loads more problems in this team than Karim Benzema.
All of these changes will give them motivation and I believe they’ll fight for the title against a Barcelona team who will be focused on the CL but there can be no doubt this has been a terrible summer and that their squad has massively lost quality in order to build a future with youngsters who are far from being guaranteed successes. Also, they’ve won what they’ve won in the past few years in spite of their transfer strategy, not because of it.
