Real Madrid have identified Trent Alexander-Arnold as their leading candidate to strengthen at right-back.
But the 26-year-old is only seen as a feasible option if he can arrive on a free transfer next summer. Talks over a renewal with Liverpool are ongoing, but Alexander-Arnold’s current contract expires at the end of June and from the start of January he will be free to negotiate with clubs overseas.
If that process sounds familiar, it’s because Madrid have made several such signings in recent years — after targeting players whose contracts were running down.
Of their current squad, David Alaba, Antonio Rudiger and Kylian Mbappe arrived as free agents (albeit the latter deal involved a galactico-level signing-on fee), and Thibaut Courtois, Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Diaz were all signed when they had less than a year to run on their deals.
It is a strategy that reflects Madrid’s changing sense of self. For some time now, the board has been aware that they are no longer the most powerful operators in European football financially — compared to the riches of the Premier League and state-backed clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain.
There are three elements to this new approach to transfer business at the Bernabeu. Beyond the market opportunities such as those described above, Madrid have also gone after younger talents available for lower transfer fees (think Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo), while still occasionally spending big on players they consider generational talents, such as €103million (£85.8m/$111.5m at current exchange rates) Jude Bellingham in summer 2023.
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The main actors in this strategy are president Florentino Perez, who always has the final say, director general Jose Angel Sanchez, who steps in to lead negotiations, and chief scout Juni Calafat, whose importance at the club has grown tremendously in the current era.
Calafat, together with his scouting team, is in charge of producing in-depth analyses after watching potential signings on TV and in the flesh. He is also responsible for establishing first contacts with players’ agents and their families, because the human side is a key element here, too.
If Calafat’s reports conclude with the label ‘FICHAR’ (‘Sign up’ in Spanish), the Madrid machinery is set in motion, with Sanchez at the head of things until any final decision (which, as detailed above, will be made by Perez).
During this process, targets are asked not to renew their contracts at their current club. Madrid also go to great lengths to convince players of the sporting development that will help them reach new levels of exposure and importance within the game if they come to the Spanish capital. Sometimes there is the element of support from players, too, as with Vinicius Jr’s messages to Mbappe and Bellingham, and the latter could now help in the case of his friend and England team-mate Alexander-Arnold.
Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold in England training this month (Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
In Bellingham’s case, Calafat travelled many times to Germany when he was playing for Borussia Dortmund, becoming close to his family. Madrid explained their plan both to him and to his camp. A key message was on the importance of being patient, and learning from 30-something midfielders Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Not that it turned out Bellingham needed to be patient in his 2023-24 debut season.
Also discussed was the salary scale, which the club manage carefully so there is a balance and a good atmosphere in the dressing room, and the new commercial opportunities he should expect from the increased global profile that comes with playing for Real Madrid.
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There was also the added element of Zinedine Zidane, a former player and manager at the Bernabeu and one of the biggest names in football over the past few decades, becoming involved in the charm offensive.
It all combined to help convince Bellingham that Madrid was the place for him. In his first months after signing, he told team-mates that Manchester City had been willing to pay him more than Madrid offered. “It’s amazing the respect the club has shown my family, they haven’t tried to manipulate it in any way,” Bellingham said in his presentation last summer.
A year on, he already has medals from winning La Liga, the Supercopa de Espana and the Champions League with Madrid. He is a candidate for the Ballon d’Or, to be awarded at the end of this month, after a stunning first season in Spain.
As for Alexander-Arnold, his profile fits Madrid perfectly: a (still fairly) young, talented and ambitious player at a position they need to strengthen, and he might be available in the right economic conditions. What he told UK broadcaster ITV while on England duty in this international break will surely have only encouraged the 15-time European champions.
“I’ve entered the prime of my career right now and I don’t want to be the player who only won trophies when he was young,” he said.
So what might happen next? The following three cases might help you better understand how Madrid tend to do business in cases like this.
David Alaba (2021)
On Alaba’s signing, Madrid worked the ground with the player cautiously. The board already knew his father and agent, George, as well as the agent Pini Zahavi, on whom the family rely, from past conversations.
They saw Alaba as a market opportunity who would join as a free agent at the age of 28 and after 13 years at another superclub in Bayern Munich — a top player and Champions League winner (2020) who would bring versatility, professionalism and experience.
Alaba is still recovering from an ACL knee injury last December (Victor Carretero/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
At the time, it was unclear whether Sergio Ramos (Madrid eventually withdrew a new contract offer to their captain, who wanted to accept it) and Raphael Varane (sold to Manchester United later that summer) would renew their deals, so it was necessary to plan ahead.
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Alaba decided early on that he would not sign a new contract at Bayern, as was acknowledged the previous November by their chairman at the time Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who revealed that the club’s final offer to extend had expired in the October. This boosted Madrid’s confidence, despite strong competition including from La Liga arch-rivals Barcelona and the Premier League.
In the January, Spanish newspaper Marca reported Alaba would be a Real Madrid player the following season and that he had already passed a medical in the presence of a club doctor, also detailing the financials involved in his move. As is usual in such cases, the parties involved denied anything had been settled — a month later, Alaba announced in a press conference only that he would be leaving Bayern that summer.
“I haven’t made my decision yet,” he said. “Real Madrid and Barcelona? My agents are in contact with everyone, they will inform me of everything and I won’t go crazy when it comes to deciding.”
Madrid eventually confirmed his signing in the final week of May.
Antonio Rudiger (2022)
A year on, Madrid signed another defender who had won the Champions League 12 months earlier. This one was more of a rollercoaster ride than the Alaba move, though.
Madrid and Rudiger’s agent Sahr Senesie, who is also his half-brother, held talks that accelerated towards the end of 2021. By the December, optimism at the Bernabeu over his signing at the end of his Chelsea contract that summer was total.
However, negotiations broke down. Madrid’s version of events was that the player’s side tried to change terms. For the centre-back’s entourage though, the door leading to the Bernabeu was never completely closed.
Rudiger signed for Madrid on a free transfer after leaving Chelsea (Maria Jimenez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Rudiger was open to considering a renewal with Chelsea if it came with a salary increase that would make it clear he was one of the most important players in the squad, but the first offer he received (about £150,000 per week) did not please him. Months later, the institutional upheavals of owner Roman Abramovich’s departure and the club being put up for sale cut off the route to a new deal, as communication and future planning became complicated.
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In the March, his agent was seen in Barcelona. But everything changed the following month with a Champions League quarter-final between Chelsea and Madrid, a tie that eventually saw the latter progress after a crazy second leg at the Bernabeu that shocked the player.
Negotiations resumed and advanced faster, with Rudiger’s representatives taking the first step. Head coach Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the player to explain his plans for him, and a deal was sealed.
Kylian Mbappe (2024)
The Frenchman’s case is unique, but the background is broadly the same as in the two cases we’ve already detailed.
After failing to sign Mbappe when he was playing for Monaco, and having to watch him eventually join PSG in 2017, Madrid did not lose contact with his entourage. That is why they prepared the ground for a historic bid in 2021, taking advantage of what they thought would force PSG to sell: Mbappe had a contract that was due to expire the following year and did not want to renew.
After that second failure, Madrid continued to cultivate their relationship to secure him when he became a free agent in 2022. However, the player surprised Perez by extending with his hometown club until 2024, a deal that included a further one-year option that could only be triggered by the France international.
Mbappe in Real Madrid training this week (Victor Carretero/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Although faced with the impossibility of signing him in 2023, Madrid did not lose sight of the matter and finally got him this summer.
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To do so, like in other signings, they had to continue to nurture (or even repair) relations and convince the player involved that the main thing was not to re-sign with his parent club.
In this case, they also had to convince Mbappe and his camp to accept their market conditions. Although the salary on offer was very high for Madrid, it was also far from what he was receiving at PSG, or what he could be offered in Saudi Arabia or the Premier League (it was also lower than their offer in 2022).
A deal was agreed with a salary of around €15million (£12.5m; $16.3m), after tax, per season, but with a reported signing-on fee in the region of €100m.
(Top photo: Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
