Real Madrid plotting summer swoop for Alphonso Davies
The Canadian full-back is the club’s major target for next summer, when he will only have just one year left on his contract with Bayern. His agent admitted the Spanish club’s interest.
Real Madrid are keeping a close watch on Alphonso Davies. The Bayern Munich left-back has still not renewed with the German champions, his future remains up in the air, and he is a key target on the Spanish club’s agenda for next season. The Canadian’s contract with Bayern will expire in 2025 which means that next summer, he will be entering the final year - a favorable time to look for a transfer at a moderate cost. That was how both Toni Kroos and Thibaut Courtois joined Madrid. It is also the modus operandi which Madrid intend to employ to lure the 22-year-old left-back to the Bernabeu ahead of the 2024/25 season.
Madrid’s interest is not new, AS has reported on it numerous times. Carlo Ancelotti is also a big admirer of the defender. The Italian coach’s contract ends in June, but he hasn’t ruled out continuing if he is offered an extension - despite the fact that in Brazil, his arrival is considered a given.
The left-back position has been a problem area for Madrid in recent seasons. From Marcelo’s slow decline, to Férland Mendy, who is a defensive specialist, but a discreet going forward; to Fran García who does not convince Ancelotti and Camavinga, a central midfielder, employed in a new role and who is, at the moment, the most reliable option that the Italian coach has found. Madrid wants to recover the figure of a powerful and omnipresent full-back and Davies is the best the market offers.
The plan for next summer is clear: to try to sign Davies at the best possible price (it is assumed that Bayern will ask for a significant amount, but common sense usually prevails in the Bavarian club) and release Mendy, whose contract expires in 2025 and has been listed as transferable for two years. No offers have arrived - and they did not arrive in 2022, after he was key in winning the 14th, nor last summer, after a run of injuries and poor performances. Madrid assumes that they will have to transfer him at a low cost, but they are willing to do so to create space for Davies.
And the player knows of Madrid’s interest, as does his agent, Nedal Huoseh, who in recent days has spoken openly about that possibility. “There is interest, as there is interest from many teams. We’ll see what happens in the coming months. I am sure that Madrid will be one of the clubs that would like to sign Davies. He played with Alaba for three years, they are friends, they talk to each other all the time in private. Alphonso doesn’t share all the information with me, but I’m sure David would like to play with him again. Maybe he mentioned it… they are friends,” he said recently in an interview with 365Scores.
Chaos at Bayern helps Madrid
What does not seem close, not even remotely, is the player signing a new deal with Bayern. Negotiations had started last year, but the instability that Bayern is experiencing (seven different coaches since Guardiola left in 2016) put a stop to that situation. Davies preferred to think it over. “We were talking at the beginning of the summer with the sporting director and the former general director, but everything was put on hold, it was a bit chaotic at Bayern because things were changing within the club. No one came up to us and said if this or that was happening, so we just let things take their course. So far no one from the new administration has talked to us about renewing the contract. Maybe in the next six months we will have some talks with Bayern, and who knows what will happen. Will it happen? We will see,” Huoseh said in the same interview.
The cards are on the table: Davies knows that Madrid will bet heavily on him next summer and he is now focused on having the best possible season to achieve, in turn, the best possible contract in the future, whether in white or after renewing with Bayern. At the moment, he is already leaving his mark on the new Bayern team led by summer signing Harry Kane - he has started nine games out of ten and already provided three assists.
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