Most Real Madrid fans already thought that the squad was lacking in depth heading into the season. However, now due to the numerous injuries to several important players, options are rare in many key areas of the pitch. That is not the ideal situation to be in for a club looking to compete for both the Champions League and the La Liga title in the second half of the campaign.
The squad lost Thibaut Courtois before the season even started and Eder Militao on matchday 1. Both to ACL injuries that are expected to keep the pair sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, the fears of many fans came true as David Alaba also suffered an ACL injury. He will miss the remainder of the current campaign and most likely the start of next season as well.
With the injuries to both Alaba and Militao, that leaves Real Madrid with just two fit central defenders, Antonio Rudiger and Nacho. Two centre-backs are obviously not enough to deal with the important stretches of games coming up in the second half of the season and the hope was that they would strengthen in that area in January. But now, that is looking unlikely.
Real Madrid fans won't be happy with Ancelotti's transfer claim
As reported by ESPN, Ancelotti said in a news conference:
"At this moment, we aren't considering signing another centre-back.
"We're lacking important players, but we have another two who we believe in, Nacho [Fernández] and [Antonio] Rüdiger, and two others who can play there, [Aurélien] Tchouaméni and [Dani] Carvajal. So right now we aren't considering a signing."
This decision may leave many fans puzzled due to the availability of a number of good cover options for Alaba in the winter window. Raphael Varane has been linked with a potential return, and even a move for talented Sporting CP defender Goncalo Inacio is rumoured to be on the table. But it looks like there will be no movement in that regard in the middle of the season.
The team will look to Nacho and Rudiger to be the starting centre-back pairing with Tchouameni filling in as a central defender when needed. That was the case in the first game of the season, as the Frenchman played in the heart of defence against Mallorca and kept a clean sheet.