Real Madrid News
Former Barcelona defender would be open to joining Real Madrid: “One of the best teams in the world”
Alejandro Grimaldo has become one of the stars in the Bayer Leverkusen squad since joining the club on a free transfer this summer.
The former Barcelona youth player has instantly become a success under Xavi Alonso. He has been a mainstay at left-back and has an impressive 14 goal contributions in 17 competitive matches this season.
In light of his recent success at Leverkusen, Grimaldo spoke about his future in a recent interview. He notably praised Real Madrid.
Grimaldo praises Real Madrid
“Real Madrid is one of the best teams in the world, if not the best, and it is a team that every player wants to join,” Grimaldo said (h/t Diario SPORT).
A left-back by trade, Grimaldo was part of the Barcelona youth system for eight years, before eventually joining Benfica in 2016, in search of game-time.
During his time at Benfica, he had established himself as a fine left-back and was even linked with a return to Camp Nou time and time again.
But it appears the Spaniard has a liking for Real Madrid, who are also curiously looking for a new left-back in the market, as they prepare for life without Ferland Mendy next season.
Grimaldo happy at Leverkusen
Despite professing his love for Real Madrid, however, Alejandro Grimaldo is extremely happy at Bayer Leverkusen and has no plans to jump ship yet.
“At the moment I am at Bayer Leverkusen. I have been here for three months and everything is going great. We have to keep working and in the future, we will see what happens,” Grimaldo assured.
“The truth is that I am very happy. It is a dream come true. Now I want to enjoy every moment that I am here, every day that I am here and take advantage of the opportunity,” he added.
Grimaldo’s current contract at Leverkusen expires in 2027. However, it must be noted that Xabi Alonso is one of the favourites to replace Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid next summer.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Grimaldo, especially if Alonso ends up moving to Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid’s main goal heading into the summer transfer window was to wrap up the signing of Jude Bellingham amid massive interest from Premier League giants such as Liverpool, Manchester City, and Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola’s City, especially, were ready to match and increase any salary Madrid offered, and were going strongly into the bidding war.
Eventually, Bellingham decided to join Madrid after they reached an agreement with Borussia Dortmund for €3 million.
However, following this, los blancos had to improvise a fair bit as Karim Benzema decided to leave the club to join Al-Ittihad on a free transfer. They were expecting him to continue for another season, at least, and it stumped their plans in the market.
In the next few weeks, Madrid chased forwards, and ended up signing Joselu, Brahim Diaz, and a certain Arda Guler, who was close to Barcelona before eventually ending up at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Unfortunately for Madrid, he is yet to play a single minute for the club after picking up a serious injury in pre-season. Despite being on the bench for a couple of games, Guler suffered a relapse in training, and was sidelined again.
Now, reports from Yagiz Sabuncuoglu say that the Turkish international is close to returning to team training.
Guler has slowly, but surely, been recovering from his injury, and could take to the pitch for his first minutes with the club in the next few weeks as Madrid look for solutions after a month full of injuries.
With Vinicius Jr, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Eder Militao, and Thibaut Courtois all out until early 2024, Madrid have relied on Castilla for reinforcements, but could do with Guler’s services in their forward line.
That said, Carlo Ancelotti and co. are expected to be extremely cautious when it comes to the Turkish international. The slightest spell of poor man-management here could make or break the youngster’s career.
