Real Madrid tired of transfer games

With the transfer market being ignored until June – or so sources at Valdebebas suggest – Real Madrid’s transfer focus is already shifting to next summer, following a strategy that has defined recent years: targeting players whose contracts are close to expiring. The problem is that many agents and players are now trying to exploit that very trend.

Ibrahima Konaté, Dayot Upamecano and Rúben Neves all have several things in common. To start with, their contracts with their respective clubs expire on June 30. There is more: all three have been offered to Real Madrid in recent weeks – the two center backs as well as the Al Hilal midfielder. And finally, all three have been turned down by the club, despite benefiting from the situation by seeing their names splashed everywhere, repeatedly linked with Real Madrid.

It is true that Valdebebas has embraced the formula of signing players nearing the end of their contracts in recent years, but that does not mean every player entering the final countdown automatically interests the club. These moves are often seized upon by agents to manufacture a favorable climate and secure a better deal elsewhere by riding the wave of supposed Real Madrid interest, as happened with Alphonso Davies just over a year ago.

“Absolute silence”

For that reason, meetings with agents representing this type of player are scrutinized in detail. Real Madrid has no desire to get caught up in the transfer bazaar that inevitably surrounds players approaching the end of their contracts. The guiding principle is clear: “absolute silence.” The club intends to follow the same path it took in previous years with signings such as Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba and even Kylian Mbappé, but that does not mean it is the only market they will explore, nor that every out-of-contract player is a target.

Beyond those already mentioned, other names loom on the horizon: Bernardo Silva, Marc Guéhi, Dušan Vlahović, Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka (previously tracked), Fabinho and Óscar Mingueza. All of them will be free, as of January 1, to sign with whichever club they choose.

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