Transfer Centre

Real Madrid fans vote for Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez to leave club

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 21 June 2019

Real Madrid fans vote for Bale, Rodriguez to leave

Real Madrid supporters vote for Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez to leave the club this summer, but want the likes of Isco, Marco Asensio and Luka Modric to stay.

The 2018-19 campaign will go down as one of the worst in recent memory for Real Madrid as they failed to pick up any silverware, finishing third in La Liga and losing 18 times across all competitions throughout the season.

While Cristiano Ronaldo's departure undoubtedly had an inevitable impact, the issues appeared to run deeper and none of Julen Lopetegui, Santiago Solari or the returning Zinedine Zidane was able to halt the slide.

Club president Florentino Perez has already begun to throw money at the problem, bringing in more than £350m worth of talent with more expected to follow amid links with the likes of Paul Pogba and Neymar.

Madrid must also balance the books in this era of Financial Fair Play, though, which means that some big names are expected to leave the Bernabeu this summer.

Earlier this week Sports Mole ran a poll asking whether Madrid should keep or ditch every member of their current squad, and the supporters made their views known when it comes to a number of high-profile players.

A whopping 82% of fans want to see Gareth Bale leave the Spanish capital following another disappointing campaign, although the Welshman's wages and potential transfer fee are understood to be making his sale difficult for Los Blancos.

James Rodriguez, who has spent the last two years out on loan at Bayern Munich, has also been heavily linked with a move away from the Bernabeu during the current transfer window, and 65% of fans would be happy to see him leave.

Another player who was out on loan last season - Mateo Kovacic - could also be set for a permanent exit after earning 76% of 'Ditch' votes, while Dani Ceballos was not far behind with 71% of supporters calling for him to be sold.

Mariano Diaz (85%), Nacho (54%), Keylor Navas (54%), Jesus Vallejo (64%) and Luca Zidane (67%) also fell foul of the supporters' anger at last season, although many of the players who regularly featured during the calamitous campaign were voted to stay.

Thibaut Courtois, whose first season at the club saw him make a number of questionable mistakes, still earned a 78% 'Keep' ratio, while 89% of fans also want to keep hold of Toni Kroos, who only recently signed a new contract.

Madrid fans appear to have no concerns over their defence with Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane and captain Sergio Ramos all being urged to stay by more than 90% of people, while Marcelo won 78% of the 'Keep' votes.

Behind Varane it is youngster Vinicius Junior (94%) whom most fans want to keep hold of, while his compatriot Casemiro - who has been mentioned in a possible swap deal for Neymar - also earned a high approval rating of 87%.

Highly-rated fringe players such as Isco (64%) and Marco Asensio (74%) were also backed to stay at the Bernabeu alongside old favourites Karim Benzema (74%) and Luka Modric (70%).

Check out the full results from Sports Mole's poll below.