Since Xabi Alonso's arrival this summer as Real Madrid's new manager, the club has been shaping the squad to perfectly fit the Spaniard's new system. We've seen a number of older veteran players of the old guard depart the club, with new, younger players arriving to fill their shoes for the next generation.
Longtime servants of the club like Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez have departed for the next step in their careers, while players like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen and Franco Mastantuono have all arrived at Los Blancos and are all expected to be big-time players of the new era.
However, there are still a few veteran players who have managed to stay part of the squad and have been good competition for the youngsters. Players like Dani Carvajal and Dani Ceballos remain a part of Xabi Alonso's squad and are good for a solid performance when their name is called.
Another veteran who remains in the squad is David Alaba. The 33-year-old is in his fifth season with the club and after a great start to life at Real Madrid in the 21/22 season, his time since then has been pretty much all downhill. With the squad getting younger and younger each season, it's only a matter of time until Alaba is the latest to depart, and that time could come sooner rather than later.
Real Madrid set to lose yet another defender as a free agent
As reported by Fabrizio Romano via his Youtube channel, David Alaba is set to leave Real Madrid as a free agent next summer once his contract expires. After a somewhat up and down five years at Los Blancos, his time at the will finally be coming to an end.
Alaba arrived as a free agent from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2021 and was a cornerstone piece of the club's extremely successful 2021/22 season.
However, since then, Alaba has been plagued with injuries and has since lost his place in the starting lineup to the likes of Dean Huijsen and Éder Militão, and has fallen even further down the pecking order behind Raúl Asencio and even Aurélien Tchouaméni at center-back.
Real already has replacements in mind as they have been scouting the likes of Ibrahima Konaté and Marc Guehi as free agents next summer. Los Blancos will be eager to fill the gap in Xabi Alonso's defense, and thankfully for them, there is no shortage of top-class center-backs on the market next summer.