Is Zinedine Zidane set to begin a new era of Galacticos at Real Madrid?

Whether it’s at the Santiago Bernabeu or the Valdebebas training ground, pictures of Real Madrid’s players are a common sight around the Spanish capital. On billboards, on television screens and most intimately above the players’ lockers, just in case they forget where their Beats headphones are stowed. However, those pictures might be about to change.

Real Madrid have never been a club to operate on the basis of accepted convention. Their decision to replace Carlo Ancelotti with Rafael Benitez last summer still baffles, with the sale of Mesut Ozil, Angel Di Maria and Alvaro Morata all testament to the muddled thinking of Europe’s most spectacularly erratic club.

But with a second Champions League final in three years looming on Saturday though, you might expect a degree of newfound stability. You might expect that with a club legend like Zinedine Zidane at the helm Real Madrid might have finally found some sense of identity again, putting their days of turbulence somewhat behind them. You’d be wrong.

Real Madrid may be heading to Milan this weekend, but for many on that plane a route out of the club could soon be plotted. The paradox for Los Blancos as they prepare to face Atletico Madrid is that whilst they have scaled club football’s unparalleled peak, their team finds itself in something of a transition at present. Saturday’s final could signify the end of an era.

Speculation has swirled for some time that Real Madrid could be set for a summer clear-out. At the time of Benitez’s spiralling tenure local press put the number of players to be sold as high as 12 - more than a full team. Now with Zidane steadying things such a drastic overhaul might not materialise, but a number of key figures are still expected to depart the Bernabeu.

James Rodriguez, for a start. The Colombian was Real Madrid’s obligatory post-World Cup signing two years ago (just like Ozil was in 2010) but has fallen out of favour (as well as a few nightclubs) of late. Then there’s Isco, who has struggled to find a specific role in the team ever since his move from Malaga in 2013. Both players would still command hefty transfer fees and so Real will likely seek to move them on this summer.

Toni Kroos, Mateo Kovacic and Jese Rodriguez have also been linked with moves away from the club, with Alvaro Arbeloa - something of a cult hero with Real’s notoriously hard to please support - already bidding his farewell. But these are all peripheral components when it comes to the fundamental squad reconstruction looming.

With every passing summer rumours of Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit - most commonly to either Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester United - intensify. His name is a staple of the transfer window gossip column, and yet perhaps for the first time there is credibility to such speculation. He might have netted 51 times in 47 appearances this season, but there are signs of decline in his game. It’s not unconceivable that Real Madrid might wish to cash in whilst the chips are still stacked in their favour.

Even more precarious is the place of Karim Benzema. Once a convenient scapegoat for whatever frustration the Bernabeu had pent up at any given time, the French striker is now considered a rudimentary stalwart of Zidane’s team. In true Real Madrid fashion, however, club president Florentino Perez is now reportedly looking to replace him with a younger, more alluring frontman. Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are two supposed candidates.

And so by the start of the 2016/17 season it’s entirely possible that Real Madrid’s BBC might be missing a B and a C. Zidane’s team will have taken its form, although it might not be his team at all. Real Madrid is a club controlled by three men and only one of them is the manager (the other two being Perez and agent Jorge Mendes, who had his own office at Valdebebas not so long ago).

If the era around Zidane, David Beckham and Luis Figo’s signing was considered the original Galacticos age, with Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema’s arrival signalling a reboot of the mantra, then this summer could mark the shift into Galacticos 3.0. When Real Madrid transition they tend to do so in style.

It’s archetypal of Real Madrid that they should appear set on an overhaul this summer even after reaching the Champions League final. However, it’s easier to improve from a position of strength than weakness. For once Perez might be excused scorn, with Los Blancos in clear need of adaptation despite the salvation of their season since Benitez’s dismissal.

Zidane is the new face of Real Madrid and that likely won’t change before next season, even if his side suffers defeat in Saturday’s Champions League final. He could be one of the few faces to remain the same at Real this summer, though. The defining icon of the first Galacticos outfit could lead the moulding of a new one.

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