Real Madrid fans had taken the Rodri signing for granted despite Florentino Perez's hesitance all along, and while Florentino did relent to the internal and external pressure to go for the Manchester City man after his Golden Ball winning World Cup campaign, the Spanish international betrayed Real in the end and is now close to joining rivals Barcelona instead.
It is a devastating twist for Real Madrid fans and Jose Mourinho, who really wanted Rodri to anchor his midfield. Florentino, though, did not want to spend what Man City wanted for Rodri due to his injury history, age at 30, and contract status with one year left on his deal. And Flo is confident in who Real have.
So here is the best possible Real Madrid XI going into the 2026/27 season, updated to account for Rodri no longer being penciled in as a starting 6.
Defense: GK Thibaut Courtois - LB Marc Cucurella - CB Eder Militao - CB Ibrahima Konate - RB Trent Alexander-Arnold
When everyone is healthy, this is the best starting lineup for Real Madrid, and there honestly isn't a single starting spot up for grabs. Antonio Rudiger is no longer good enough to be a starter for Real Madrid, and Dean Huijsen still needs more seasoning before he can take on either Ibrahima Konate or Eder Militao. Denzel Dumfries is the closest to the lineup, but Trent Alexander-Arnold's ability to change games with one pass keeps him locked in.
Midfield: RCM Fede Valverde - LCM Jude Bellingham - AM Arda Guler
Jose Mourinho will probably try to shoehorn Bernardo Silva and/or Aurelien Tchouameni into the Real Madrid starting XI, but Silva is more of a rotational backup and Tchou still has to prove his good enough to start for this club after two terrible seasons.
Jude Bellingham and Fede Valverde are world class midfielders and 100 percent must start. Not starting both would be malpractice. Arda Guler is an amazing playmaker and the best in that regard in the Real Madrid midfield, and he 100 percent has to start, especially since Jose has big plans for making him a midfield center piece. Again, the best players play, and these three are Real's best. They don't even need Rodri, honestly, if Mou can get these guys cooking.
Attack: LW Vinicius Junior - ST Kylian Mbappe - RW Yan Diomande
Real Madrid's attack has a chance to be the best in world football next season and really push Bayern Munich's great trio. Mourinho's No. 1 task is to get Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior on the same page and as the top two Ballon d'Or contenders, and he has found the right, unselfish right winger with the speed, acceleration, technical quality, and work rate to pull a lot of pressure off them and make this team more fluid - and more dangerous on the counter.
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