Have Real Madrid lost their depth this summer?

Real Madrid have played a dangerous game this summer. There’s just one day left in the summer transfer window and it definitely looks like Los Blancos will not make any more signings, meaning that their current roster will be the one in charge of defending La Liga and the Champions League titles.

However, they’ve also lost Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez, who joined European rivals Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Those two players could face Real Madrid in the Champions League and Los Blancos have not replaced their production. Both players combined for 31 goals last season —20 for Morata and 11 for James— and so far Los Blancos will be relying on the very same players who were on the roster last season plus the addition of Dani Ceballos —a midfielder— and Borja Mayoral —a young and inexperienced striker— to make up for that loss.

If that wasn’t enough, they also let Mariano go and he scored five goals over 14 appearances for Madrid last season. He’s also proving his worth with Lyon and has already scored three goals in four matches.

All in all, this is what Real Madrid’s roster looks right now. It’s clear that Carvajal’s true replacement might now be Nacho if every central defender is healthy and the same happens with Casemiro, who will most likely be replaced by Kovacic until Llorente earns more minutes.

If Benzema gets injured, it’s likely that Bale will be the one starting and not Mayoral, so if every player stays healthy Real Madrid have the depth to compete for all three titles, that’s for certain. However, they also have some injury-prone players like Varane, Vallejo and Gareth Bale who could miss a significant amount of games throughout the year.

Take Real’s last home game against Valencia as an example. Casemiro had to start alongside Nacho in the center of Madrid’s defensive line because Varane wasn’t ready and Ramos was suspended. They also had to rely on Mayoral to score the game-winner during the last few minutes of the game simply because Ronaldo wasn’t available.

All things considered, it’d be fair to say that Real Madrid don’t have as deep of a squad as they had last year. Morata and James wanted to leave, but maybe Los Blancos should’ve gone after another attacker just in case.