After losing on Lille center back Leny Yoro to Manchester United, Real Madrid are clearly gunning after Bayern Munich star left back Alphonso Davies as their priority transfer target in defense.
No transfer target currently supersedes Davies in terms of importance, as the Canadian reminded the world of his quality with a great all-around tournament at Copa America this summer.
Real Madrid are keeping Ferland Mendy around at left back at the request of Carlo Ancelotti, but they know they need more help at the position than just the offensively limited Mendy and the struggling Fran Garcia, who has failed to yet make the leap from Rayo Vallecano to the Real Madrid standard.
Florentino Perez has a new transfer strategy, galvanized by signing the most talented footballer on the planet for free in Kylian Mbappe. He wants top players to be willing to run down their contracts and join Real Madrid for free – or their current clubs can sell for half price.
That strategy did not work with Yoro, who was pressured into joining Manchester United instead of his Real Madrid dream at the requests of his agent Jorge Mendes and club, Lille.
Manchester United were willing to pay 60 million euros for a player worth 40 million euros in a vacuum, while Real Madrid wisely did not want to part ways with more than 20 million for a player with one year left on his contract, irrelevant of his quality.
However, it looks like Alphonso Davies won’t make the same mistake of falling for a club’s pressure, partially because Bayern Munich know they cannot pressure an established star player.
Tomas Roncero of Diario AS reports that Real Madrid and Davies have pre-agreed a free transfer for the summer 2025 window when the left back’s contract expires, and they will reward him handsomely with a fat signing bonus, just like with Kylian Mbappe from PSG.
It wouldn’t be the first or the second time Real Madrid sign a superstar from Bayern Munich on the cheap. They bought Toni Kroos for 25 million euros a year before his contract expired and then, years later, nabbed Davies’ mentor and former left back David Alaba, now a center back.
Kroos went on to become one of the best midfielders of all time at Real Madrid, while Alaba has also been a success story, proving crucial in Los Blancos winning the 2021/22 Champions League as the new No. 4 after Sergio Ramos’ own free departure to PSG.