Zinedine Zidane has 10 forwards at his disposal, which caused Real Madrid to rub their hands at the beginning of the campaign.

However, Los Blancos’ forward options are now under the spotlight, with all of them having delicate situations that the French coach will have to manage.

For example, the situations of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes have provoked debate inside the club, while there’s also the futures of Gareth Bale and Mariano Diaz that need to be resolved.

In addition, Karim Benzema and Luka Jovic have not addressed Real Madrid’s woes in front of goal, and then there is the injured duo of Eden Hazard and Marco Asensio.

Finally, there are Lucas Vazquez and Brahim Diaz, who have been on the periphery for much of the season.

Bale and Mariano

Both forwards seem set to depart the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu this summer, which was also the case last summer.

In fact, in the case of the Welshman, he has made more headlines off the pitch this season than he has on it.

Bale has been given endless chances to show that he can fill the void that was left with Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure in the summer of 2018, but he has shown an inability to do so.

Now, finding a destination for the 30-year-old is Real Madrid’s primary objective in the upcoming transfer window, with Los Merengues having failed to do so for the last couple of windows.

As far as Mariano is concerned, he has had a difficult campaign due to the lack of opportunities Zidane has given him.

It was the same last year, too, when Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari were at the helm prior to the Frenchman’s reappointment.

Despite the club’s lack of goals and the fact Jovic hasn’t carried over his form from Eintracht Frankfurt, Mariano hasn’t had the faith of Zidane to come to Real Madrid’s rescue in terms of scoring goals.

Hazard and Asensio

In normal circumstances, both would have been starters for the majority of this season.

In fact, together with Benzema, they should have formed a new deadly front three for Zidane.

However, serious injuries put an end to those hopes, with Asensio not having featured at all in the 2019/20 campaign after falling injured in pre-season.

Asensio has been out for nine months and it remains unclear if, or when, he will be able to get back to his best, and it is a similar scenario with Hazard.

The Belgian has played just 15 games since August and he has picked up two serious ankle injuries in a row.

The last one caused Hazard to go under the knife and there will have to be the necessary precautions in place so that he can return to the form he displayed in his Chelsea days.

Vinicius and Rodrygo

There is no denying the talent of both Brazilians, who have come to the fore at different stages of the season.

First it was Rodrygo who shone before Vinicius stepped up to the plate and took the former’s place in the line-up.

The problem is the lack of continuity both have had under Zidane, who regularly appear and then disappear from his plans.

One of the points of discord between Real Madrid and Zidane during the season has been his management of young players, especially Vinicius and Rodrygo.

They attribute this to the fact that, with the rotation policy that he implements, it is not the same to drop a young player for two games as it is for an experienced member of the squad. For the youngsters, it ends up taking away their confidence.

With Vinicius, they were worried that he would end up breaking down mentally when he wasn’t playing, and it was the same with Rodrygo, although they saw him as being more mature.

Benzema and Jovic

Real Madrid’s strikers have had very different campaigns.

Benzema continues to score, without being the lethal goalscorer Los Blancos need, and the club need to find a way of easing some of the pressure on his back.

Moreover, the Frenchman will turn 33 this year and there is a concern about finding a replacement who can come in and instantly hit the ground running.

Jovic was signed for this purpose, but the Serbian has struggled in his debut season in the Spanish capital, although Zidane has done little to help in this regard.

The 22-year-old has not been given many opportunities, has come in and out of the side and has always been in Benzema’s shadow.

As in the cases of Vinicius and Rodrygo, there is some concern about the way in which Zidane has managed Jovic’s situation this season.

Now, Jovic’s future is up in the air, especially if Real Madrid go after Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.

Lucas and Brahim

They are peripheral players but have further lost their status within the squad.

Lucas has been a key player for Zidane in both of the coach’s spells at the club, acting as the ideal player to come on late in matches or to cover when rotations are made, but his status has decreased significantly in the last two seasons.

From Real Madrid’s perspective, they wouldn’t be against the departure of Lucas this summer, however the former youth product acts as a role model in terms of players coming through the club’s academy.

Brahim, meanwhile, has a lot of faith shown in him by Zidane, but injuries have got in the way of his progression.

Right now, the 20-year-old does not have much importance in the squad and, while last summer he was able to dictate his future, this summer may be a different case as he looks to make up ground for his lack of game time in the last 18 months by going out on loan.