Real Madrid just signed Alvaro Carreras after months of tough negotiations with Benfica. The former Castilla graduate is finally back in Madrid and carries a lot of expectations.
Not to exaggerate, but he is expected to revolutionize the left flank and perform much better than the options Los Blancos currently have.
A left-back of his profile is deeply needed at Real Madrid, especially in the new Xabi Alonso setup, which places significant focus on full-backs who can contribute up the field.
But this signing has also highlighted a major problem in Real Madrid’s squad, an excess of deadwood and unusable players who have been handed humongous contracts. It has now become difficult to offload them because of the overconfidence the club once showed in them.
The biggest problem in Real Madrid’s squad is clear after Carreras’ transfer
To recognize the issue, we don’t need to look beyond the very position Carreras was signed for.
Ferland Mendy and David Alaba are among the most injury-prone and unproductive players in the squad, and they no longer serve any real purpose for the manager.
And the state of their contracts is seriously unfavourable for Madrid. Mendy’s contract does not expire until 2028, according to Transfermarkt, and that’s concerning since it was renewed only last year, at a time when he had already begun showing signs of visible decline.
Offering a declining player a four-year contract is absurd and clearly reflects a flawed sporting decision by the management.
A similar issue exists with David Alaba, who, per Capology, earns an annual wage of 22 million euros, making him the second-highest-paid player behind Kylian Mbappe. But his performances and track record are nowhere near commensurate with what he’s being paid.
The silver lining is that his contract expires next summer, unlike Mendy’s. Still, the wages in the meantime are a bad expense, money Madrid could have saved and used for transfers had they been wiser in assessing his quality earlier and avoided offering hefty terms.
The point is, Madrid have a lot of deadwood they might want to clear out, and they need to rethink their policy of offering unthinkable wages and long-term deals to ageing or unstable player profiles.