Real Madrid Florentino Perez met with Jose Angel Sanchez

Jose Angel Sanchez, the general director at Real Madrid, met with club president Florentino Perez on Monday afternoon to discuss plans for the January transfer market, with it decided that Los Blancos will aim to spend some money to strengthen their squad.

The meeting, which lasted around two and a half hours, was called to discuss the LaLiga champions' recent poor form, with injuries and transfer policy said to be two of the main reasons for the stuttering start to the 2017/18 season.

Perez has not previously splashed much cash in January and there have even been some relative flops to have arrived at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in this month, such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Antonio Cassano and Lucas Silva, something the current directors want to avoid a repeat of.

Real Madrid know that players may cost more in winter than they would in summer, but they appear willing to take that risk and to do what they can to try to bring in a goalkeeper, such as Kepa Arrizabalaga, and a forward, such as Mauro Icardi or Timo Werner - although the latter would be ineligible for the Champions League.

The signing of another centre-back is also not being ruled out.