There is a strong chance that Real Madrid grant Xabi Alonso's biggest wish to Alvaro Arbeloa instead in the summer 2026 transfer window by snagging a high profile center midfielder to help Aurelien Tchouameni out. It won't be Martin Zubimendi - the Real Sociedad grad whom Alonso dreamed of already chose Arsenal - but it coudl be someone even better.
Enzo Fernandez has been flirting hard with Real Madrid, but it now sounds like the Chelsea star and his agent Javier Pastore are trying to patch things up with Todd Boehly and the Blues. As captured by Fabrizio Romano, Pastore has stated publicly that Enzo and Chelsea have "cleared the air" on their issues, which was mainly Fernandez openly throwing himself at Real Madrid while being disgruntled with the new direction of the club under Liam Rosenior.
Pastore said, “We're on the same page with Chelsea. We made peace yesterday. There were never really any problems. We cleared the air. His statements were without any intention of causing problems at Chelsea. He’s the captain, one of the team’s leaders, and he’s shown his best form on the pitch this season."
Enzo Fernandez is smoothing things over with Chelsea
Real Madrid fans are not that enamored with Enzo Fernandez as an option, and, in all honesty, Chelsea fans have not seemed to worried about losing him. He is a good technical player who can score goals from midfield with runs into the box better than the rest of them in the Premier League, but his understanding of the game and consistency have been called into question.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid are being linked with other stars from the Premier League in midfield, most namely Spanish national team hero Rodri. During the international break, the former Atletico Madrid standout was doing just as much to sell Real Madrid on signing him as Enzo.
Although Florentino Perez and Real Madrid seem lukewarm on Rodri, there is still an opening for the 2023/24 Ballon d'Or winner to join Los Blancos if he can come at the right price. His age and ACL tear are still concerns, but if Rodri pushes enough and moves the price down, he could be the next Real Madrid midfielder to bring a more veteran presence for Aurelien Tchouameni next to him.
If Enzo is patching things up with Chelse and now publicly trying to smooth things over, perhaps realizing the futility of asking for a move with how long he is under contract at Chelsea and the cost of 100 million euros that Real won't pay, that opens up Rodri as the best option of the veteran signings. Rodri is a better player anyway and cheaper, though he is older.