(Football news) Real Madrid have had a very quiet transfer window from their standards. The Los Blancos won the La Liga and Champions League last season but it was clear that their squad needed new additions. Before the transfer window even started, the team were dealt a big blow as long term target Kylian Mbappe signed a contract extension with PSG. Club legends Marcelo, Gareth Bale and Isco left after their contract expired. Although all three of them had been incredible servants of Real Madrid who helped the club win trophies they had been deadwood for a while despite being on massive wages. Getting rid of them opened up some spots and saved some funds as well. 

Real Madrid were always favourites to sign free agent Antonio Rudiger and that is what happened. The signing of Rudiger, that too for free, was very profitable for Los Blancos. The German clearly improved the defence and gave some much needed physical presence to it. The left back spot left by Marcelo was filled by Alaba who now can play there more as Rudiger filled the centre back position. Ancelotti has also played Rudiger at right back which could be another option. Getting a 29 year old centre back who is considered one of the best in the world for free is a steal. 

The only other signing that happened was a big one in the form of Aurélien Tchouaméni. Real Madrid beat PSG and Liverpool to sign the Frenchman for €80m + €20m in add-ons. The midfielder was supposed to be Casemiro's heir who would give the Madrid midfield some much needed depth. Real Madrid sold their academy players Mario Gila, Victor Chust, Miguel Gutierrez, for a total of €11M. They also sold Take Kubo and Borja Mayoral who had been on loan for a long time for €16M combined. Los Blancos also let deadwood Luka Jovic leave for free which will eventually be a big money saver and loaned out Rennier Jesus and Antonio Blanco.

Up until here Real Madrid's transfer activity could have been considered a success but Casemiro's sale changed that. Manchester United came in with a high bid for the Brazilian midfielder which both the club and player accepted. Casemiro's departure nullified Tchouaméni's signing as Real Madrid replaced a good defensive midfielder with another one. Last year the problem was that Real Madrid had only one natural defensive midfielder and this season it's still the same. This means that the signing of Antonio Rudiger is the only one that improved the team. Even though Isco, Jovic and Bale didn't play that much, there was an option. This season Ancelotti will have less options as he hasn't promoted any academy players yet. Sergio Arribas, Peter Federico, Iker Bravo and Vinicius Tobias are some of the players who can be called up to the first team.

Real Madrid never looked like signing another player. There were reports that Ancelotti wanted to bring Gabriel Jesus but the Non-EU rule made his signing impossible. Los Blancos also failed to get rid of Mariano who is also deadwood. They were also trying to force the exit of Marco Asensio but that didn't happen and looking at how bleak the squad is his departure would've been bad. This season Ancelotti's squad has only 23 players which is the lowest in the last 5 years at Real Madrid. Real Madrid's transfer window has been underwhelming considering that there is a World Cup coming in December which makes the schedule quite hectic. The team has very limited options in attack which is possibly their biggest worry. Next season is expected to be a big window. Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, Nacho, Marco Asensio, Mariano Diaz and Dani Ceballos will all be out of contract but there is a high possibility that everyone apart from Asensio and Mariano renew their deals.

Also read: Olympiacos sign free agent Marcelo on a one year deal