Real Madrid News
Real Madrid were £116m Liverpool signing’s first choice – ‘If Xabi had made the offer…’
As Real Madrid gear up for their highly-anticipated UEFA Champions League clash this midweek, one of the players worth keeping an eye on will be Florian Wirtz.
The German international will be playing against his former coach Xabi Alonso, who had played a key role in his rapid rise to prominence at Leverkusen.
Earlier in the summer, Wirtz made a jawdropping move to Liverpool, a move that was worth £116 million – making him one of the most expensive players in the Premier League.
However, Wirtz’s career trajectory could have ended very differently if only Real Madrid had called him up in the summer, according to Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro.
Carro on Wirtz’s desire to join Real Madrid
In a recent interview with Sport1 (h/t Goal), Carro has revealed that Liverpool was not Wirtz’s first-choice and in fact, the German wanted to join Real Madrid.
Carro even went on to admit that Wirtz would have joined Real Madrid if Los Blancos had simply called him up in the summer.
“He’s someone who wants to win the Champions League. We thought that with this team we would have been capable of going further than we did,” noted Carro.
“He saw that we had won the Bundesliga title, but winning the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen might be more difficult,” he added.
Carro added that Wirtz was only one call away from reuniting with Xabi Alonso, but explained that the Spaniard doesn’t enjoy the same level of autonomy he used to at Leverkusen.
“He would definitely have gone to Madrid if Xabi had made the offer. But Xabi has less say at Madrid than he does with us.
“One of Alonso’s greatest strengths was his ability to work with our scouting department to define who needed to be in our team. Florentino Perez decides the transfers, not Xabi Alonso,” he pointed out.
Real Madrid, in any case, were always going to be priced out of a move for Wirtz, especially after having splurged a big sum on defensive reinforcements earlier in the summer.
Alonso, though, has continued to keep an eye on the German’s situation at Liverpool, knowing there could be a market opportunity to sign him up if things go south at Anfield.
Real Madrid opted to renew Antonio Rudiger’s contract this past summer to keep him at the club for one more season.
The 33-year-old veteran defender, though, has not been performing at his best, with physical problems taking their toll and age starting to catch up with him.
As such, the expectation is that Los Blancos will not extend his contract again when his current one expires on 30 June 2027.
Tottenham eye Antonio Rudiger
And, according to reports relayed by AS, Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur are plotting a free-transfer swoop to sign Rudiger in the summer of next year.
The north London club are understood to be keen on reinforcing their backline next year and see the German defender as an option, given his experience in the Premier League and the fact that he would be available for free in the summer.
So far this season, Rudiger has played only five games for Real Madrid, amounting to a total of 396 minutes.
The 33-year-old has even chipped in with two goals, including the all-important winner in the 4-3 comeback victory over AS Roma on Wednesday night.
Time to move on?
Despite Rudiger being a hugely respected figure in the Real Madrid locker room, he is currently the third-choice centre-back for Jose Mourinho.
After all, summer signing Ibrahima Konate and Dean Huijsen have been preferred by the manager so far in the new season.
Moreover, with Eder Militao set to return imminently after a lengthy injury layoff, Rudiger’s game-time could be impacted further.
Given the situation and factoring in Real Madrid’s plans to sign another centre-back next summer, it is pretty much evident that Rudiger does not feature in the club’s plans for beyond this season.
As such, a separation of ways seems pretty likely when his contract expires, and Tottenham are now positioning themselves as early suitors to sign Rudiger as a free agent in 2027.
