Real Madrid have a very busy summer 2026 transfer window ahead of them, and it will kick off once Jose Mourinho is officially announced as the new manager of the club, which should only be a matter of time at this point.
Mourinho already saved Real Madrid from back to back trophyless seasons more than a decade ago, bringing back the club's winning mentality and identity en route to six Champions League that would follow after his reign was over.
Now, Mourinho is tasked with rebuilding an in fighting Real Madrid locker room and a terrible defense, and his main signings to start with will mostly be defensive players. But it looks like he will have one less roster spot to fill now.
Real Madrid are keeping a mercurial star
After a few conflicting rumors and then increasingly positive rumors that a deal would be done, Fabrizio Romano is reporting that Real Madrid have completed their first significant move of the offseason, agreeing on verbal terms with veteran center back Antonio Rudiger. The German international will indeed sign a new contract that will keep him out of free agency until 2027, inking a one year deal that is customary for older players at the club.
At 33, Rudiger is nearing the end of being a top center back in world football, and he admittedly has not looked like a great player for Real Madrid in the last couple of seasons since he won his second career Champions League title in 2024. That, combined with Eder Militao's constant injury woes, has been central to Real's decline in defense.
But while the overly aggressive Antonio Rudiger is no longer a truly starting caliber center back for Real Madrid, he is not a bad third or fourth option as a veteran presence. And with David Alaba and Dani Carvajal officially leaving Madrid, losing Rudiger would mean no real veterans besides Militao and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the back line.
Respected in the locker room, Rudiger can make good on his antics against certain profiles like Erling Haaland, and if Real Madrid can land the big fish among the top young center backs for Jose Mourinho like dream targets Nico Schlotterbeck of Borussia Dortmund and Alessandro Bastoni from Inter Milan, then Rudiger will be less exposed.
Although Rudiger frustrated Madridistas, there is an acknowledgment that letting him go would have created more holes than those that would have been solved, but if the likes of Joan Martinez start showing out, then Madridistas will also hope Rudiger does not hold the next gen back either.
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