Clement: Real's selection problems remain

The European champions were busy restructuring their squad during the last transfer window with the likes of James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos and Keylor Navas arriving at the Santiago Bernabeu.

However, Madrid president Florentino Perez drew some criticism from supporters for allowing Alonso and Di Maria to depart the club, with the duo having played a starring role in Real's Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League double last term.

Clement is unperturbed, though, and insists head coach Carlo Ancelotti still has several selection dilemmas to contend with.

"It's a big challenge [keeping everyone happy], particularly for the manager," he said in an interview with BBC Sport. 

"You look at our situation here, just before Xabi and Angel departed we had 20 high level players and basically two for each position. We're slightly lower than that now, we're down to 18, but the problems are still there.

"These players are very competitive, playing at a high level and they want to play every game in almost all circumstances here.

"We see the disappointment of the players that get left out but they're very professional and show in a good way the way to move forward from those disappointments."