Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has admitted he believes Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema will all sign new contracts to remain at the Santiago Bernabeu beyond this summer.
The iconic trio are all out of contract at the end of the current season and fans are awaiting news over possible extensions.
90min confirmed in March that Benzema has agreed the terms of an extension and Ancelotti has now revealed that both Modric and Kroos are heading in a similar direction.
“There is progress, they are talking,” he told the media.
“I see Benzema, Kroos and Modric as always. Throughout the season, it is normal to have differences in level. You have to evaluate them on what they do, not their age. They may not have the physique of the younger players, but nobody in the world has their way of handling matches. You can’t buy that in the transfer market.
“I think that the three of them will continue at Real Madrid, but the day they are not there, we will have to look for another spine.
“We have youngsters who will also mark an era in Madrid, but they will do it in a different way than Kroos and Modric.”
Los Blancos are well stocked in midfield, with Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde all key parts of both the present and the future in Madrid, and there are also plans to rival the Premier League’s elite for Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham this summer.
One player who could be on the way out, however, is Dani Ceballos, who has attracted interest from Wolves as he approaches the end of his own contract.