Real Madrid have vastly improved their defense this summer transfer window for Jose Mourinho, snagging Ibrahima Konate for free from Premier League giants Liverpool, signing Denzel Dumfries from Serie A champions Inter Milan on a bargain release clause deal, and finally prioritizing Marc Cucurella at left back from Chelsea to give them their only Spanish national team star.
But Mourinho and Real Madrid, viewing how awful the defense at the Santiago Bernabeu has been for years and keeping in mind Eder Militao's injury history, are after one more world class center back to boost the team.
Nico Schlotterbeck has fallen off the radar after his World Cup injury and now Dumfries's Inter Milan teammate Alessandro Bastoni appears to be the favorite, but before all that, Ruben Dias of Manchester City was the one Mou wanted the most, preparing to join him with Man City free agent midfield addition Bernardo Silva.
Ruben Dias might be finished
But while Dias has a high reputation and is in the prime of his career at 29, it is hard to sell him as truly world class these days with the high profile mistakes he has made in big matches. Maybe Real Madrid could have written off embarrassing him with Brahim Diaz and Fede Valverde in the Champions League knockouts this year, but Dias, in a must win World Cup Round of 16 game against Spain, was truly shocking in Cristiano Ronaldo's final World Cup appearance.
Dias did not win a single tackle or interception and was incredibly sloppy with his passing while never progressing the ball forward. He looked like his shoes were made of lead as he misplaced passes and turned around like a malfunctioning record.
Worse yet, it was Ruben Dias who made the decisive mistake. With just minutes left in the game, he made the inexplicable, totally amateur decision to fall for the bait and step up out of his line, enabling Spain to easily break the Portuguese defense with a slipped pass to Mikel Merino, who delivered the easiest finish of his career while completely wide open in the box because of what Dias did.
The mistake summed up an overall disaster class from Dias, who has been horrendous this season, and maybe the only reason why Jose Mourinho wanted him is because he remembers how amazing he was for Manchester City a few years ago. But this version of Dias is truly shocking and has no business playing for Real Madrid as he nears the age of 30.
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