Rebuilding Madrid, One Pass at a Time - The Transfers, Rumors & Lies Thread

Haha. You better get used to it, the cultish Mou fans are a strange cross breed of delusions meet religious fanaticism.

Every coincidence will be twisted into incontrovertible evidence of his genius and mastery of the mysterious of the universe. Every glaring mistake, not what it seems but an unforeseeable fluke brought on by forces of nature beyond human control only to be amplified by turn coat journalist who seemed to be friends only days before but who now join the forces of evil to conspire against the Mou personally and use the club to try and hurt him.



And now we hear about how players like Dumphries, Konate sbd a 32 y/o Bernardo Silva are the game changing players we need and have ALWAYS been missing. With guys like this sbd keeping Mou since 2013 - the club would have won 10 consecutive trebles and more.


In the end we will find out how reaching the CL semi finals is a trophy in itself and a much greater accomplishment then reaching the final and winning it because after all its a one off game anyone can win but to get to a semi finals you have to be good more than once. We will hear about how winning domestic trophies is irrelevant because they are fixed by the powers that be but the true test of character was when the team came together and sat down to eat everyone together at a giant table formed by putting fold up patio furniture together at the team BBQ.

 

Why move him from his best position as an attacking midfielder to a role where he's clearly struggled?

 

Not sure Arda will crack it as CM in future, but he has way more workrate than Ozil, James etc so maybe a hybrid midfielder like Isco, KDB.

 

For me he can learn it like Bernardo or better yet Modric. He just needs more size.

If he doesn't?

My hope is Hollywood Bellingham decides to play deeper and let's Arda play more advanced.

 

🚨 @FabrizioRomano: “Real Madrid have GENUINE interest in Mateus Fernandes and have made CONTACT.

But, there is still nothing advanced because they have MANY midfielders.” pic.twitter.com/g5ZnROiFjy

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) June 12, 2026

Manchester United already opened talks with Mateus Fernandes, who is high in their thinking.

Real Madrid also made a recent call.⬇️ https://t.co/2BxKNxOpRs

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) June 12, 2026

🚨 JUST IN: Manchester United are WARY of Real Madrid making a move for Mateus Fernandes.

But as things stand, Manchester United are LEADING THE RACE. @TeleFootball pic.twitter.com/GvDr6nRms9

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) June 12, 2026

 

Such a conundrum between those two with where they should pay and how to maximize them. I hope the staff and the players can figure it out.

Bellingham has a better eye for goalscoring positions, but again I think that's from running in late like Lampard used to do. I actually think Guler has a far better shot on him than Bellingham.

 

United don't like bidding wars. If Madrid make a move they'd probably back down and go for Scott instead, assuming Anderson is off the table.

 

I don't even think we're that interested. Seems like a Jorge Mendes special to push Manchester to make the necessary bid and wages.

The entire "Madrid made a call" or "Madrid are so interested" yet followed up with "Madrid would need to sell midfielders" very telling.

People online want Tchouameni sold but Mourinho loves this profile of player and we'd be crazy to sell one of the best DMs in the world just because.

We're not selling Jude or Fede unless they demand out and they won't. So this is a non-story

 

Starting midfield is set now. Fede, Tcho, Jude and Bernardo for Mou imo. Arda will start the games when Bernardo is rested. So this rules out the likes of Enzo who will cost 140 M and demand a starting spot.

Maybe there will be a young midfielder coming in if Camavinga is sold but unlikely to be Mateus Fernandes for 90 ME+. Priority now will be a LCB. Feel Schlotterbeck is likely due to his buyout clause.

 

Bernardo missed something like 9 games in the last 9 years due to injury and is a mainstay in the XI, he's very rarely rested.

I don't see Arda being on the bench when Bellingham, Tchouameni and Valverde are redundant and don't link up well. Our midfield structure has to change and that won't happen by benching our best midfielder and replacing him with Bernardo. That's my opinion.

We will still have 2 months after the WC until the market closes. A lot of things can happen. One thing I am sure of is that the players most of us want out will be extremely hard to move.

 

Arda can't replace what Fede or Tcho brings which is the ability to cover so much ground plus their defensive skills. Those are priorities for Mou typically. Him and Jude are interchangeable as AMs but Jude has Galactico status at the club.

Arda will still play 2000+ minutes because there's so many games at RM. Probably a regular starter in 2027-28 with Bernardo shifting to Modric 2023-24 rotational role.

 

Based on skillset, Arda should be the 10 and Bellingham should be in the double pivot with some box to box freedom. That has always been obvious. Convincing Bellingham to do this is another story.

 

I think Arda starts. One of Bellingham and Fede will be on the bench; both play box-to-box and offer no creativity in midfield, Bellingham even more so with the sand bags permanently taped to his legs and his slow passing game. Tchouameni is a DM so atm he's indispensable.

 

Don't see it happening. Fede is the captain in his physical prime and Jude is expensive Galactico. If one isn't gonna start due to their profile, no use of having them as bench option and tanking their value.

Imo the only question is whether Bernardo or Arda will start. Fede and Jude will start as long as they are at the club.

 

Based on the current roster and Mourinho's tendency for a 4-2-3-1

I am fairly sure the midfield is
Guler/Silva
Bellingham/Camavinga
Valverde/Tchouameni.

One of Guler or Silva will always be on the field to maintain fluidity and keep the ball moving.

Valverde and Tchouameni have consistently shown that they cannot play together in a 3 man midfield since are not able to move the ball forward and lack press resistance. Bellingham actually has these traits and can play with either of them. Valverde could end up on the right wing, making it more of a 4 man midfield. But Mourinho typically does not play this way.

Ceballos will be moving now that he has 1 year left on his contract. I am not sure if Thiago ends up the 7th mid, in Castilla, or out on loan. Camavinga will probably refuse to move and become the 6th option.

This is why I don't see them spending money on Matheus Fernandes or Enzo Fernandez, especially for the prices being thrown around. Matheus Fernandes probably is the better fit of the two in terms of profile but spending 90 million for a non-star who will be a bench player or bench Valverde/Tchouameni does not sound like a Florentino move.

 

Things would be so much simpler if Valverde would just accept he is a RB.
He is better than Dumfries and Trent at RB, and it makes putting formations together so much easier.

 

we will see..we still have open questions what will happen with Paz and Munoz...Schlotterbeck/Gvardiol as CLB,..wouldnt be suprised if a galactico emerges after WC..aint best time to buy a galactico before world cup and he gets injured there...what will happen with Brahim, Pitarch, Camavinga, Gonzalo Garcia/Endrick...dont expect that anyone buys Rodrygo injured so he will stay probably put..I dont expect big sales so I dont expect Vini exit aswell as Tchou..personally Mateus Fernandes is too expensive..premiership players prices are crazy

 

I don't see all of Bellingham, Tchouameni and Valverde staying with everything that has happened in the last 2 seasons..this midfield will be dismantled one way or another imo..

 

I think Fede will start on the right in 4-2-3-1 in big games helping to cover Trent/Dumfries. There's no big name RW at the club though Endrick could start against lower table teams at home.

Playing without a natural DM goes against Mou's instincts so Tcho is certain starter imo. If he's sold for some reason, Mou would still want a DM as replacement than a hard working box to box midfielder.

 

If only there was a better reason to auto-start Jude other than "he's a galactico".

Dude is not a proper connective player from the CM position at all. And Fede is already a b2b. Either he starts at AM in a 4-2-3-1 or bench him. We already know a midfield of Fede-Tchou-Jude s*cks as a unit.

 

The right side is a bit of a mess.

Valverde works well with Trent, but I am not sure Mourinho will view that as a positive in big games. Valverde is basically playing 2 positions defensively, and Mourinho is probably going to perceive that as a liability against good CL teams that can attack you. And Valverde/Dumfries on the right side seems like duplication.

 

I think the rumours about him wanting a CB at LB hints to him liking Trent at RB. I think Valverde at RW makes a lot of sense, he's done very well there this season and in 2022, covers for Trent, and solves our midfield headaches.

 

We still don't know if Jose sees Bernardo Silva as his RW or as a CM.

 

Exactly. That midfield is not a team. If we keep this same backbone and expect different results that's foolishness.

Bellingham has a PR machine that rivals some clubs, he's immune from criticism across fandom and media. He's also the face of Adidas [with Yamal], that's huge marketing value for the club.

Jude's still feeding off of credit he earned from his exceptional first 4 months, because outside of that he's been absolute ass.