Carlo Ancelotti ‘has requested three signings for next season’

Carlo Ancelotti has already starting planning Real Madrid’s squad for next season, according to Spanish newspaper Sport. The Barcelona-based daily claims the Italian has already decided they will need to reinforce three positions.

According to these reports, Ancelotti would be looking for a left-back, a creative midfielder and a striker.

The first of them would only be necessary in case Fabio Coentrao left the Santiago Bernabeu next summer, a move that is very likely to happen. Ancelotti has reportedly picked his two favourite replacements: Valencia’s Juan Bernat and Sevilla’s Alberto Moreno. The former’s buy-out clause is 30 million euros, while the latter’s is 20 million. Moreno has also been linked with a move to Atletico Madrid.

For the midfield, the club’s favourite is Juventus’ Paul Pogba, who has been personally recommended by Zinedine Zidane. However, the Italians might not be willing to let his star leave. Ilkay Gundogan was also an option a few months ago, but his back injury has ruined his chances of moving to Madrid.

For the striker position, Ancelotti might be looking for a substitute rather than a world-class star. With Alvaro Morata very possibly leaving on loan next summer, Madrid’s boss would seek for a low-profile striker to become Karim Benzema’s replacement. Thus, Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero and Radamel Falcao would not join Real Madrid as it had been rumoured. Sport claims Ancelotti has put his eyes on Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic, who will not have many chances of playing next season with the arrival of Robert Lewandowski.

* Follow Alejandro Gonzalez on Twitter at @alejandrognieto