Real Madrid is clear about the script for this transfer market: pulling with the current squad, reinforcing it with the return of several loans and try to put the icing on the cake with a great reinforcement such as Kylian Mbappé, who would join the arrival of David Alaba. The Austrian center-back has been earning a good amount (12 million net per year), but his signing has been considered vital due to his versatility: he solves problems in three different positions (central, left-back and mid-center). The Frenchman is another story: PSG offers him to earn more than 30 million net and, if he finally makes a stop at Madrid, he will not do so for much less money.
Thus, Madrid has to make a hole in its salary scale, and not only for a question of financial and wardrobe hygiene: it is an obligation within the margins allowed by LaLiga. In your last amendment to salary limits, Madrid was the first on the list (It used to be Barcelona, which the coronavirus crisis has hit especially hard), with an amount allowed to allocate to salaries of 473.3 million.
The white budget in 2020-21 included 414 million of spending on salaries of the football section; that's where non-sports personnel come in and also the entire quarry structure, so the spending of the first team will be around 400 million. There is room for the incorporation of Mbappé, but not to exhaust the margin and also not to incur losses (This budget already foresees a 91 million deficit), it is convenient to lighten the outputs and, with them, the wage bill.
There are nine names marked in red, footballers who could go out and who would reduce salary spending by up to 126 million euros: Ramos, Bale, Varane, Marcelo, Odriozola, Isco, Mariano, Jovic and Ceballos. Among all of them, they receive 63 million net, that is, 126 gross. And all could leave the club, although some more than others.
Ramos' situation (25 million gross per year) is special: it ends on June 30 and at the moment there is no agreement for its renewal. If he finally reaches a pact to sign for one more course, he would do so with a 10% reduction in salary, as Madrid has been demanding, so his cost would be reduced by 2.5 million. Bale is the one who spends the most for Madrid (30 million gross); last year he was loaned to Tottenham, who only paid half of his chip, this year it was foreseeable that Madrid would seek a similar solutionBut his decent performance in London and the words he and Ancelotti have been talking about lately suggest that the Italian can count on him to play white in the final year of his contract.
Varane (12 million gross) has practically asked to double his salary and Madrid does not accept it; in fact, he wants to sell him to earn a good amount for him, is expected to bring offers soon. Marcelo already knows that it does not count, Mendy is the starter, Alaba can play in his place and Miguel Gutiérrez knocks loudly at the door, but he castles himself in not going out and causes a problem, since it represents 16 million expenses per season. The same as Isco, who costs the club 14 million a year, although like Bale he is also awaiting a conversation with Ancelotti to see if he is looking for a team or not.
Mariano, Jovic, Ceballos …
Those are the most urgent cases, but not the only ones. Jovic (10 million) and Mariano (9 million) have hardly performed in white; the first would not be opposed to leaving, but offers need to come in (it is hoped that Eintracht will try), while the second has been refusing to move since the summer of 2019, despite the interest of several equipment. Mariano has a contract until 2023 and it is unlikely that someone will offer him the 4.5 million he earns in Madrid.
And the smallest cases, and therefore the least urgent, are those of Odriozola (seven million a year) and Ceballos (three million). The former pleased the club in the final stretch of the season, but with Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez, recently renovated (with salary improvement, it goes from three to five million, that is, its expenditure for the entity rises from six to ten), its presence is not essential. In addition, the white quarry has some jewels in that position, such as the youthful Lorenzo Aguado. And then there is Ceballos, who if he leaves it will not be because of the salary cut, but because of his need to settle once in a team. He has already warned Madrid that either he remains in the squad or wants to be transferred.