David Praises Real Madrid, can it happen? Ask an expert in Madrid

In recent weeks, Bayern Munich fans have been bombarded with a series of reports that David Alaba is set to join Real Madrid. While the Spanish giants have been a rumored fate for the Austrian for some time now, it is difficult to say how plausible these rumors are as we are not exactly experts in planning Madrid’s squad or their transfer situation.

So to help us we reached out to Om Arvind from our sister site Managing Madrid to answer some questions. Here’s what he had to say about the Alaba saga at this point:

Do Real Madrid really need David Alaba right now? Where and how would he play, assuming Sergio Ramos stays?

It depends on what you mean by “need”. Technically, all relevant positions – LB, CB, DM – have holders. But Real Madrid currently lacks immediate depth as a left-back (Marcelo seems finished at this level) and has been concerned for some time with how to replace aging Sergio Ramos. We have seen how Madrid has been without their captain in key games and it has not been pretty. Beyond losing their organization and defensive skills, Real look much weaker against the press without their world-class ball progression skills (currently peaking in percentage of long passes and progressive passes p90 in La Liga for fbref).

Nacho has seen a renaissance of late, but he will never be the long-term exit option and Éder Militão still looks pretty green. From what I can imagine, the idea seems to be for Alaba to be a safe backup option in two defensive positions before moving into the role of starting LCB. I’m not sure if Alaba would be comfortable with this, but I think it would immediately improve the team and allow the Madridistas to breathe easier every time Ramos is suspended / injured or eventually leaves.

Photo by Lukas Barth-Tuttas – Pool / Getty Images

Salary has been a major obstacle to contract negotiations, do you think Pérez will be willing to match Alaba’s big salary demands?

No. The idea is for Alaba to be a bargain transfer, as Madrid can no longer pursue more expensive targets due to COVID-19 finances.

Could Madrid try to close a deal in January?

I can see.

How credible do you find the rumors (specifically those of the Spanish media)?

I don’t know if it’s all the details, but I think it’s true that Real Madrid has some interest. However, I doubt that actual negotiations have begun at the time of writing this article.

Do you have any concerns about this transfer?

• Salary.
• Alaba’s satisfaction with being an understudy in the short term, without a real timeline on how “short” that term could be (who knows, Ramos could be the GOAT until 45).
• If it is true that Alaba also wants to go play in the defensive midfield (you indicated that this is more likely a media blunder) he should go elsewhere, no one is displacing Casemiro under Zidane’s watch.
• Additionally, Alaba appears to have a history of consistently suffering minor injuries. He has lost time 14 different times since 2017/18, although none of the stages have been that long. However, I hope you can excuse any excessive caution on my part given the Eden Hazard fiasco.

Many thanks to Om for taking the time to do a QandA with us! From the looks of it, Alaba’s transfer doesn’t exactly seem like a priority for Madrid at the moment, and Perez is quite unlikely to pay what Zahavi wants. Where does that leave the deal? Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.