Three Players That Could Still Leave Real Madrid This Summer

On August 19th, Real Madrid will usher in their La Liga campaign against Osasuna, with the Santiago Bernabeu set to erupt into life once more. The opening fixture of the new season does more than just kick things odd: it opens a new chapter, a chapter Los Blancos are desperate to move onto as quickly as possible.

Last season was disastrous by their lofty standards. They were beaten four times by arch rivals Barcelona, who in turn went on to scoop all three domestic trophies. On the continental stage, Los Blancos surrendered their Champions League crown with a whimper, losing 5-1 on aggregate to Arsenal in the quarterfinals. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they were unceremoniously thumped 4-0 in the recent FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinals by Paris Saint-Germain.

This offseason has been a masterclass in rebuilding. England international full back Trent Alexander-Arnold – a statement signing if ever there was one – brings Premier League pedigree and oozes quality, plugging perhaps the one weak point in Xabi Alonso’s squad. Dean Huijsen quietly adds technical steel to the defence and provides the ability to play out from the back, while Alvaro Carreras and Franco Mastantuono represent an investment in youth and future stardom.

From a recruitment standpoint, Florentino Perez’s work seems nearly done. But in the Spanish capital, transfer windows are double-edged swords – prized arrivals and painful farewells are written in the club’s DNA. With club legends Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez already departed, Real faces an immediate future that could feature further exits.

While Los Blancos has a somewhat uncertain future, the website luckyrebel.la certainly doesn’t. The site is set to launch imminently, and is being billed as the number one place for sports fans ahead of the 2025/26 season. How Real Madrid will fare in that campaign, though, and indeed which players will be on the books, remains to be seen.

Here are three that are rumoured to be on their way out of the Bernabeu exit door before the summer transfer window slams shut.

At just 24, Rodrygo has already experienced a lifetime of pressures and triumphs under the white-hot glare of Madridismo. His impact in Europe—the late goals, the decisive moments—is etched into recent club folklore. But Real Madrid is a club that lives as much in tomorrow as it does in yesterday, and football is nothing if not mercilessly cyclical.

The arrival of Kylian Mbappe last summer triggered a seismic shift. The mathematics, for once, are simple: with the French superstar staking an untouchable claim to a forward position, coupled with Vinicius Jr. having the left flank locked down and Arda Guler growing in confidence on the right, Rodrygo’s opportunities have shrunk. Last season’s minutes dipped by nearly 25% after Mbappe’s introduction, and this top-end competition has bred top-end speculation.

Premier League title contenders Liverpool and Arsenal have stalked the Brazilian all summer long, with their interest widely reported. Both, however, have already spent significantly this summer, with the Reds bringing in the likes of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, while the Gunners have managed to secure the signing of the prolific Viktor Gyökeres. As such, Manchester City have recently entered the conversation with their trademark combination of ambition and financial muscle.

What’s remarkable is Rodrygo’s continued market value – a player with proven Champions League credentials, yet arguably nowhere near his ceiling. Statistically, his goals and assists per minute rival Europe’s elite under-25s. The question for Madrid: do they gamble on his resurgence as a squad player, or monetize while his value remains sky-high?

Should a bidding war truly ignite, a €75-90m windfall is not out of the question. In the transfer market’s grand chess match, Rodrygo is a king’s ransom on the move.

Spotlight. Hype. Pressure. Repeat. For Endrick, the short journey from Palmeiras prodigy to Madrid forward has been a relentless storm.

Arriving last summer for €47.5m, the teenager was cast as the next megastar – a narrative that can inspire or suffocate. In his debut year, the numbers simply haven’t stacked up: just one goal and limited starts, his flashes of brilliance dulled by a clamour for points and patience seldom found at the Bernabeu.

Behind the statistics, though, the broader context is even more telling. Gonzalo Garcia’s emergence has shifted the landscape. In the recent Club World Cup, the young Spaniard finished as the tournament’s joint top scorer with four goals, even managing to keep Kylian Mbappe out of the team once the Frenchman had returned from illness. Now, teenager Endrick finds himself even further down the pecking order.

For club and player, a loan makes perfect sense – and that’s not just paper talk. Major outlets confirm that Milan, Juventus, and Leverkusen have all expressed concrete interest. Saudi heavyweights Al Nassr, flush with resources, are probing for a sensational coup, but the smart money is on Endrick choosing a European adventure where development trumps pay cheques.

There is a certain poetry in Andriy Lunin’s Madrid story – the grit of an understudy, the brilliance when called upon, and the agony of living in the shadow of Thibaut Courtois. Throughout the 2023/24 campaign, with the Belgian sidelined, Lunin compiled an astonishing 81% save percentage and was instrumental in Madrid’s perfect run to Champions League glory.

Yet, the goalkeeper paradox rears its head: reliability is a curse when opportunity is rationed. At 26, and with Courtois set to continue wearing the gloves, Lunin faces a career-defining decision. Remain a Madrid hero in the margins, or chase full-time status elsewhere?

Manchester United’s situation is tailor-made for such a leap, their need for reliable competition well documented. Villarreal, meanwhile, offer La Liga continuity in a side ready for the upper reaches. Both permanent and loan deals are on the table, but Madrid’s valuation will dictate terms. For Madrid, losing him would sting, but the financial and human logic is hard to ignore.