Real Madrid has just seen one of its market options for next season definitely slip away. With the renewal of Sergio Ramos stopped for the moment and the Sevillian's contract expiring in June, in just a few months, Madrid has drawn up a list of potential center-backs to replace the captain, who would thus close a 16-year period in white. That list is made up of Alaba, Koulibaly, Koundé, Pau Torres … and also Upamecano, until Bayern made it public that they had signed the Frenchman for the next five seasons, upon payment of his termination clause, of 42.5 million euros.
It is true that Upamecano was not Madrid's first option; That is still Alaba, a central with more experience at the first level And that he would arrive for free after ending his contract with Bayern (although, yes, it would require a transfer bonus and his agent, the Israeli Pini Zahavi, a juicy commission). Today he has already confirmed that he is leaving the Munich team although he has not revealed his fate. But that Upamecano has been ruled out is bad news, as he was the most affordable defender of the others on the list.; Koundé costs 90 million, Naples rejected 105 million from United for Koulibaly (if he does not enter the Champions League, the price will drop drastically) and Pau Torres has a clause of 50 million euros.
The fact that Upamecano has already opted to sign for Bayern instead of waiting a few months to see if Madrid could become a real option reveals an increasingly common situation: Real Madrid has lost touch with the market of signings. In another time, Florentino Pérez's ability to unblock any signing was well known, however impossible it may seem; there are the examples of Figo, Zidane or Ronaldo, without going any further. The president always remembers that there were also players who could not sign despite his repeated interest in them, such as Frenchman Patrick Vieira, but they were isolated cases. Lately, it's one after another.
Mbappe
Starting with Mbappé himself, the player on whom Madrid wants to build its next project, as long as he manages to get him out of PSG this summer or in subsequent market windows. Madrid already had the option of signing the Frenchman close, in fact they had it practically closed, but it escaped him and Mbappé ended up changing Monaco for PSG, that golden prison that has prevented figures like Marquinhos, Verratti or Neymar from leaving in recent years.
It was the summer of 2017, with Real Madrid recently proclaimed European champion for the second consecutive edition and Mbappé being the object of desire of all Europe after having managed to get Monaco to the semifinals of the Champions League, leaving an entire Manchester City behind in the quarterfinals. Madrid went ahead in the contacts with Monaco and had already closed the price: 180 million, to which had to be added a tax that the white club promised to pay and that raised the figure above 200 million. The agreement between teams was total.
Mbappe.
REUTERS
But not with the player, who put two demands on the table: collect 12 million net per season (Madrid could only reach seven if they did not want the dressing room to be revolutionized, not in vain Mbappé was barely 18 years old at that time and had signed a brilliant half season, but only half season) and a departure from the white trident, made up of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, to guarantee minutes under Zidane's orders.
Neither situation occurred and Mbappé ended up at PSG in exchange for 180 million euros, the same summer that Neymar also signed for the Parisian team. Madrid had the opportunity to transfer Bale to United for 100 million euros, but did not want to know anything and the French forward preferred to guarantee his progression at his hometown club. And until today Madrid is wanting to get him out of Paris, without success. This summer seemed like the one, but the pandemic arrived and now everything is up in the air.
Neymar
Like Mbappé, he was also made by Madrid, so much so that he passed the medical examination in Brazil, when he was still playing for Santos. However, the operation scared the white club, as Florentino explained that between salaries, commissions and transfer price it was about 150 million euros, which “damaged the ecosystem” of Madrid, in the words of the president. Barcelona ended up taking it away in the summer of 2013, stating then that it had cost 57 million euros; subsequent investigation revealed that its price was much closer to one hundred million, wages aside.
Neymar.
REUTERS
Already at PSG, Florentino made a serious attempt in the summer of 2018, after Cristiano left, to bring him to Madrid and to lead the white project that the Portuguese had abandoned. Neymar entered the Parisian club on the wrong foot and after just one year at PSG (which paid Barcelona 222 million for him), he was ready to change of scene. He did all the pressure he could from within, but the French team always closed the possibility.
Pogba
An old wish of Zidane, who asked the club on several occasions, and especially after his return at the end of the 2018-19 season; he wanted the French from United to strengthen the midfield. The club promised the coach to try and squeezed the English team all summer, but the answer was always the same: Pogba is not for sale. United had paid 120 million euros, between transfer and commissions, to Juventus to get the midfielder out of there And I wasn't about to let it go, as much as it's never quite fit in there.
Pogba.
DPA via Europa Press
In addition, that attempted operation again made clear the tense relationship that Real Madrid lives with Pogba's agent, the Italian Mino Raiola. The agent, one of the most important of the first international level, is not distinguished by biting his tongue and his statements in the past have greatly damaged his options to work side by side with Madrid, although there is an exit in the near future with Haaland, also represented by Raiola and whom the white team follows very closely, especially if Mbappé reveals himself impossible.
From Gea
A signing done that was not for two minutes (according to the Madrid version). On the last day of the market in the summer of 2015, United agreed to negotiate with Madrid to transfer the goalkeeper for a more variable figure of 25 million euros. With the agreement made, the English team took a long time to send all the documentation to enter it in the FIFA transfer system and the TMS (Transfer Matching System) was closed without the operation being completed.
From Gea.
Getty Images
From there, speculation soared: United was thought to have sabotaged the operation on purpose because they did not want to sell the goalkeeper. (He opened to negotiate at the insistence of the player, who wanted to return to Spain with his partner, the singer Edurne), also that Madrid thought about it at the end after the good reviews that Keylor Navas had accumulated in the league games played until then, after Casillas left for Porto … The fact is that De Gea did not sign for Madrid, he renewed for United and Keylor ended up being the goalkeeper of the white club's three consecutive European Cups.
town
The first big fiasco after the return of Florentino Pérez to the presidency of Real Madrid, in 2009. His plan included the signings of Cristiano (already signed by the previous president), Kaká, Xabi Alonso and a renowned forward like Villa. However, Valencia was a ruthless negotiating partner, demanding 50 million euros. Florentino appeared on the now-defunct Channel 9 asking for patience: “The Villa thing is a matter of time.”
Despite the fact that the relations between Florentino and the then president of Valencia, Manolo Llorente, were good, the club that did not agree to lower the price, aware that the Valencian fans did not want Villa to end up white (the relations between clubs remained badly damaged after the transfer of Mijatovic in 1996). In the end, Madrid changed their goal and paid Lyon 35 million for Benzema, while Villa stayed one more year in Valencia and ended up signing for Barcelona… for the 40 million that Madrid offered twelve months before.