Pellegrini, Isco, Toulalan, Demichelis, Joaquin, Iturra, Caballero, Gamez, Antunes. Eliseu, Saviola... it wasn't about Isco, 95% of their starting 11 were gone a year past the UCL semis.
They managed to survive with the replacements for those guys, Samu Garcia and Castillejo, Darder, Fornals, Camacho, Amrabat, Sergio Sanchez... most of them play for teams ahead of Malaga thise season, but they've been just downgrading their squad 3 seasons in a row, Sandro, Fornals and Camacho were too big of a swing in a single window.