How Much Better Can We Get? - The Transfers, Rumors & Lies Thread

Real Madrid and Raúl Asencio agree to RENEW his contract until 2031. @miguelitocope

🚨 BREAKING: Real Madrid and Raúl Asencio agree to RENEW his contract until 2031. @miguelitocope pic.twitter.com/2HOBnX4G6w

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) June 14, 2025

 

We will probably sign Carreras and that's it for the summer if Rodrygo stays. That'd be 3 signings for starting line up and Franco as back up option.

 

🚨 Rui Costa (Benfica president): "We didn't reach an agreement with Real Madrid for Alvaro Carreras.

The offers we received did NOT satisfy our demands." pic.twitter.com/YRP3yI5J6H

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) June 14, 2025

Rui Costa (Benfica president): "We didn't reach an agreement with Real Madrid for Alvaro Carreras. The offers we received did NOT satisfy our demands."

Pain in the ass.

 

Whats the situation with Paz and Miguel?

 

there is no place for Paz in this team with the Mastantuono signing and Arda,Miguel would have been a good and cheap option for LB but it seems the club doesnt want him

if Carreras deal fails,going into the season with Fran and Mendy is madness,has to play Camavinga at lb

 

I also feel the same. Let's be honest, if and when we want a player, we usually get him.

 

There will be an overbooking at LB assuming Carreras arrives. They will be lucky to chuck 1 of Mendy or Fran. If they were to move both out than there would be an opening for Miguel but that is not happening.

Miguel has been linked to Napoli so that is probably the next move for him.

Paz is most likely staying at Como one more year and hoping to play in next summer's World Cup. That was always the most logical move despite the media frenzy.

 

Real Madrid is absolutely killin it in the transfer market this summer. Good reaction from Perez and JAS. ESPN FC apparently thoroughly impressed, rating every transfer an A or A+ for Real Madrid. I've never seen Madrid run the tables in a transfer window like this since summer where CR7/Kaka/Alonso/Benzema arrived. This is primarily because the transfers are so low cost, yet high yield. Hopefully they remain great value for money spent.

 

Bro might be spending it in jail. Why?

Honestly prefer that the club move on from Mendy. The guy is perpetually injured and when he plays he isn't that great. Sure Fran is average, but he makes up for it in effort and fitness. Mendy is one of those players who goes lights out come renewal time (like most NFL QBs) and then goes back to being avg.

 

Mendy and Alaba need to go tbh

 

If Benfica continues to hold firm on Carreras, maybe we should just pay the 8ME buy-back clause for Miguel Gutierrez, end the LB hunt for this summer and look for a new LB next summer depending on Miguel's performance (while getting rid of Mendy and Fran Garcia this summer or the next one).

I know Miguel is worse defensively and Carreras is the more balanced player, but is he really worth what Benfica are asking for him? I have my doubts.

 

I doubt Carreras would be an A for Madrid based on the overpaying though.

 

I just wish it didn't take Barcelona absolutely pantsing us four times in one season (in the process denying us every domestic trophy thanks to those head-to-head results) to have woken Pérez up. Many of us expressed concern about squad depth last summer and Pérez simply ignored those problems. I picked Barcelona to win La Liga in our pre-season predictions thread because of my concerns, and obviously I'm not happy at all that things played out that way but that's how concerned I was. It had the potential to be season-ruining problem and look how things turned out?

I mean, look, better to be reactive and inactive, but the best of all would've been to be proactive. With Kroos retiring and a solid squad player like Nacho leaving, there were holes to fill that were ignored and ended up contributing to our downfall last year.

You'd have to think there are ways out of the contract if Asencio actually ends up in jail for his alleged role in things.

 

JFD is being called out for changing his story on topics every couple of days.

I knew this was coming, he has been a total fraud this summer. Basically, coming up with random new stories on a daily basis for the hell of pumping out stories.

 

I am sure the Club would love to move on from Mendy. Getting him to move on is a different story.

 

I can see why Carreras would be a good fit from club view & he can come in to improve our starting 11

• solid defensively in 1-1s eg vs Yamal
• can slot in back 3 as left CB
• young & not injury prone
• Spanish & was at La Fabrica

That said, he only has 1 good season under his belt. Doesnt look like a someone who we “cannot miss”. If hes not gonna come at reasonable price, I hope the club start searching elsewhere for options. At the very least, to not seem so desperate & swing some bargaining power over in a negotiation

Personally, I wanna see more links with Grimaldo. Maybe the club aint interested due concerns on age. He’s clearly proven in different leagues & in Xabi system. In my view, he could be a much more significant upgrade vs Carreras

 

Grimaldo in my opinion is too similiar to TAA. While both TAA and Grimaldo are offensive, they are not wingbacks. They are more of a " maestro" back. Their biggest assets are playmaking rather than charging down the line. If TAA plays on one side, I do not want the other back to do the same.

I don't have much opinion about Alvaro Carreras. I don't watch Benfica at all.

 

Zidane05 mentioned Cambiaso but Juventus don't want to sell him. If you want tall, defensively solid and good crosser, there is Ruggeri though, who is on the same level as Carreras currently imo and would cost a fraction of Carreras.


This will be another one of the Hendrix rolleyes hipster suggestions, but Moenchengladbach's Ullrich is someone who has a two way ability and is very natural on the ball. 21 year old only too, had a great season, played in every youth international level so far. I think he has big potential, maybe 4x4s can give his take.


What his coaches say about him:

"Lukas can go at a high intensity for 90 minutes and bite down defensively on the opponent." - Germany U19 manager Guido Streichsbier

"You can see that he's got pace going forward and that he has a very good mentality. He's confident, he's active and he makes runs in behind. He brings a lot to the table playing as an attacking left-back" - Borussia Mönchengladbach head coach Gerardo Seoane

 

I'm not debating whether or not he's at Carreras' level, as I haven't seen enough of Carreras to determine what his level really is (other than 4 or 5 games this season, where he was very good but that's not a sample size I'd bet 50M on). However, has Ruggeri even been a regular starter for Atalanta? At this point, it's not whether he's at Carreras' level (whatever that is btw), but more about whether he can be slotted right into the starting line-up of Real Madrid, when he apparently can't make that consistently at Atalanta. Do you know why he wasn't a starter during the 24/25 season?

 

Gasperini rotates more than anyone in the league and Atalanta has a big squad. Kolasinac played frequently when a more defensive and experienced option was needed, then there was Brescianini who is essentially a left winger so he fit in the formation against minnows, and Bellanova also sometimes played on the left because Zappacosta was the first choice on the right. Its just how Gasperini rolls, not really an issue with Ruggeri. That is to say I like Ruggeri just as much as I like Carreras, which is a modest amount, but its the price tag that makes the difference in my mind.

Also don't be humble, I make my evaluations also on the basis of watching 4-5 games (but I do specifcally watch the player Im interested in)

 

It looks like the club is all in on Carreras, and I haven't read any credible reports linking us to other LB options. I just hope we don't back out of negotiations lightly with Benfica, and we get this deal over the line.

Alternatively, we have 3 LB options next season in Fran, Mendy and Camavinga, and none of them are optimal.