Real Madrid will decide their summer transfer plan in defense soon

After a game like that, I’m pretty sure Real Madrid would be looking to add more depth to the centre-back position, rather than actually going for centre-backs that would replace any of the two players in the starting line-up.

Against PSG, there were really only three or four players that had a great individual game, and they were all defensive-minded players. Eder Militao was fantastic, David Alaba had a good game and Thibaut Courtois was crucial in making sure the score didn’t tell the fans the whole story.

According to Fabrizio Romano on his podcast, Real Madrid are definitely going to work with Carlo Ancelotti regarding the whole centre-back situation. They will decide in March and April what needs to be done regarding the position.

Real Madrid definitely need at least one good centre-back signing in the summer

The club needs to learn from the PSG game. It highlighted Real Madrid’s weaknesses: not having certain players which should be needed in certain games, or not having enough depth (or rotation players that are good enough), which would force the coach to keep counting on the same crop of players until they’re run into the ground.

Real Madrid need one good centre-back, at the very least, so that David Alaba and Eder Militao are able to rest properly before big games. I think Nacho Fernandez is still good enough to be the fourth-choice centre-back, and signing a third choice centre-half would be crucial in deciding how it goes for the team next season.

Of course, they’d want to sign a player that can help them through the press and build out from the back, while also not sacrificing on the defensive end.

But, here’s the thing, though. Real Madrid very clearly need more defenders. They need full-backs. Dani Carvajal doesn’t look anywhere near his prime right now, neither fitness-wise nor quality-wise. Ferland Mendy is obviously very good but he’s injury prone and can be a liability against high-pressing teams. Real Madrid need to give priority to these positions as well, because I don’t know what they’re doing right now.

They gave Carvajal a huge extension in the summer, when a case could’ve been made about them potentially moving on from him. Look how good Hakimi turned out to be. I’m not saying Los Blancos should’ve kept Hakimi instead of letting him go to Inter, because truth be told, I don’t think he would’ve been a starter over Carvajal at the time. But, Real Madrid did have the right of first refusal for Hakimi when he was being sold to PSG. Real Madrid could’ve acted on that this season, but instead, they went ahead and prioritised Carvajal over him… again.

I think all three positions in the defense need some sort of reinforcement, and I really hope Real Madrid have come up with a plan to make that happen, because simply signing Kylian Mbappe in the summer won’t make all the other problems go away.