Real Madrid News
Real Madrid optimistic about keeping veteran duo at the club beyond 2023 – report
According to Cadena SER, Real Madrid will offer new contracts to veteran midfielders Luka Modric and Toni Kroos and are optimistic about keeping the duo at the club beyond the current season.
Both Modric and Kroos are in the final year of their respective contracts at the Santiago Bernabeu and have been subjects of speculation due to the same, especially with the German superstar.
Indeed, there have been reports that Kroos could decide to retire at the end of the season when his contract expires. As for Modric, there have been no such rumours but with the club pushing to sign Jude Bellingham next year, murmurs of an exit have done the rounds.
However, as per the report, Real Madrid hope to keep both Kroos and Modric at the club beyond the ongoing campaign.
The reigning champions of Spain and Europe are planning to offer the seasoned campaigners a new deal that would keep them at the Santiago Bernabeu for another year.
And the report states that Real Madrid are ‘very optimistic’ when it comes to Modric signing an extension and are ‘quite optimistic’ about Kroos’ renewal.
Despite their age, Modric and Kroos continue to be two of Real Madrid’s best performers. The duo was recently praised heavily by manager Carlo Ancelotti following Los Blancos’ 5-1 win over Celtic on Wednesday.
“It’s business as usual. If the young people surprise, Luka and Toni do not. They are always at a very high level. They handle the ball well and control the game. They are players with unique quality and experience,” he said.
Considering how much he values that pair, Ancelotti is likely to want Kroos and Modric to continue at Real Madrid at least for another year. Whether they go on to sign new deals will be interesting to see.
It is astounding that despite being the biggest club in Spain, Real Madrid do not have many Spanish players to show for it.
Los Blancos do indeed boast of a special diversity in the dressing room, but their lack of locally trained players could pose problems according to MARCA.
The Spanish outlet confirms that UEFA does not mandate the inclusion of any minimum number of locally grown players for a club. However, the Spanish federation stipulates that a club in Spain must boast of at least eight players who meet a specific set of conditions.
Of the aforementioned eight candidates, there must be at least four players who have spent three seasons or 36 months at the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Currently, only Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Mariano make up the required number on that front.
The problem, however, arises with the condition for the other four players in the list of eight. RFEF stipulates that the second set of four players must have completed at least 36 months in teams attached to the federation of Spain between the ages of 15 and 21.
Only Jesus Vallejo, Alvaro Odriozola, Marco Asensio and Dani Ceballos tick the aforementioned box. However, all four players have uncertain futures at the club and are well-placed to depart in the summer.
There are thus big decisions to be taken over the transfer strategy for June. Real Madrid can work ways to ship all four players out, it would require the re-integration of players like Sergio Arribas, Miguel Gutierrez or Fran Garcia to ensure the fulfilment of the criteria.
With both Vallejo and Odriozola seemingly frozen out of Ancelotti’s plans, their departures from Santiago Bernabeu appear inevitable. Thus, the management could be forced to renew one of Asensio or Ceballos come June.
