Madrid have already spent close to £200million on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Raul Albiol this summer, but they are still looking to bring in more new faces to complete their squad for next season.

The likes of Xabi Alonso, Franck Ribery and Alvaro Arbeloa are among the players being linked to Madrid, and Pellegrini admits that while his squad are fine for forwards, the midfield and full-back positions could possibly do with strengthening.

Whatever happens, Pellegrini is hoping that his squad is close to completion by the time the players who are still absent due to their international commitments this summer - including Kaka, Iker Casillas, Albiol and Sergio Ramos - return to the fold in a fortnight's time.

"The sooner the better," said Pellegrini when asked for a good date to have his squad finalised.

"July 27 would be good because that's when our internationals return. But I'm not bothered about waiting a while longer if there are any doubts concerning a signing.

"There's no deadline. I know what I want, but I'm not looking to have it for our first pre-season match. The squad needs to be ready before the start of the campaign."

Alonso appears to be Madrid's top target at present, although the big-spending La Liga giants are not finding it straightforward to cut a deal for the Spain international and admitted this week that they are some way short of Liverpool's valuation of the Euro 2008 winner.

Madrid have not given up on Alonso yet, but Pellegrini has dismissed any suggestion that the 27-year-old is "indispensable" to the team.

"Indispensable players do not exist. He's an important player as he has shown with the Spanish team. It's no mystery that Real Madrid are interested in his services, but it will not be easy," said Pellegrini, who took the same line when talking about Bayern Munich winger Ribery.

"As I said, there are no indispensable players and we'll see what happens," added the Chilean.

While Madrid have already made great strides to bring in new faces this summer, it has been a different story regarding players leaving the club.

President Florentino Perez said Madrid would be looking to offload around 10 players to accommodate all the new arrivals, and so far only Javier Saviola has been sold while Fabio Cannavaro, Julien Faubert and Jordi Codina have also moved on.

There has been plenty of speculation about the possible exits of a number of Madrid players, most notably their Dutch contingent, with question marks over the futures of Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Rafael van der Vaart, Arjen Robben, Royston Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder.

Pellegrini preferred not to discuss which players could be on their way out, but did suggest Sneijder could still have a role to play in the new-look Madrid.

He said: "He's a very good player and our game could benefit from having him. There's been a lot of talk about if the Dutch players will stay or go.

"The club will make announcements when necessary, but it isn't true what is being said in the press about how all the Dutch players will leave.

"We will try not to build the squad without making any mistakes."

Madrid, who returned to training on Friday, will depart for a 10-day trip to Ireland tomorrow as part of their pre-season preparations.

During the visit the revamped Madrid will play their first friendly against Shamrock Rovers, but Pellegrini was giving nothing away as to whether or not world-record signing Cristiano Ronaldo would be involved on that match on July 20.

"There's still a week ahead of us in Ireland before the game. We are in pre-season and so all the work we are doing is focusing on the official competitions," said Pellegrini.

"There will be eight or 10 friendly games and we are going to try to give minutes to everyone so that they are all ready to start the competitions in the best shape possible."

He added: "No player is assured of a starting spot. We look for the best form and the players will have to prove their worth every week. As coach, it's up to me to choose the most appropriate team for each match."