Real Madrid have signed Ibrahima Konate as a free agent from Liverpool after at least a year of on and off again transfer rumors, as the Merengues are confident Jose Mourinho can bring the best out of a player whose size, experience, intelligence, and athleticism make him an ideal counterpart to Dean Huijsen at the heart of a defense that will continue to include Antonio Rudiger and a hopefully healthy Eder Militao.
Given how poor Real Madrid have been defensively, though, that is not remotely enough. Los Blancos are still interested in more center backs, and Mourinho has made it obvious to the club that he wants another world class player at the position.
Hybrid left back and center back solutions Josko Gvardiol and Riccardo Calafiori are all the rage, but Real Madrid may also be interested in Mou's ultimate dream prize at center back, incoming right back Denzel Dumfries's Inter Milan teammate Alessandro Bastoni with that crazy left foot of his.
Nico Schlotterbeck is back on the radar
There is still one more elite center back target to keep in mind, though, Borussia Dortmund's Nico Schlotterbeck. On Real Madrid's radar a few years ago even when he was a youngster at Freiburg, Schlotterbeck has blossomed into a world class player and has a 50-60 million euro release clause in his new Dortmund contract that will make a deal with Real's friendly Bundesliga club even easier to facilitate.
According to a report from BILD in Germany, via Madrid Xtra, Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Nico Schlotterbeck's, too, and the German international is a very achieveable signing for the Royal Whites in summer 2026.
With all the rumors around other big name center backs this summer who are harder to get in Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori, Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni, and Manchester City star Josko Gvardiol, it is wild that a young, affordable, and proven top center back in Dortmund's Schlotterbeck isn't getting the same play from Real Madrid.
But although Schlotterbeck can be prone to mistakes, he is a really special athlete who is among the best in the world at playing the ball from the center back position, perhaps only second to Bastoni and even above Calafiori when considering on the ball progression. Schlotterbeck can play on an island with very little support, which he does at Dortmund, and has that crazy warrior mentality Mourinho absolutely loves from his defenders. He is a Jose coded player, even if he does not seem like it and is an obvious contender for the Madrid job.
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