Manager ‘fed up’ with wide man as shock Real Madrid transfer

Real Madrid’s bitter rivals Atletico Madrid are allegedly interested in taking a long-serving wide man off of Xabi Alonso’s hands in 2026.

Los Blancos resume their La Liga campaign away to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday afternoon, when the 15-time European champions will aim to bounce back from an agonising Champions League loss to Liverpool.

That 1-0 defeat came after a 4-0 thrashing of Valencia in the Spanish top flight, where Alonso’s men are four points clear of second-placed Villarreal at the top of the table with a game in hand.

Newly-signed left-back Alvaro Fernandez (Carreras) scored a venomous first goal for Real Madrid in the four-goal thumping of Los Che, and the former Manchester United man has immediately become the club’s first-choice player on that side of the backline since his summer arrival from Benfica.

Carreras has inherited the left-back spot from Ferland Mendy, the 30-year-old France international whose time at the Bernabeu has been blighted by a multitude of fitness concerns.

Mendy is yet to make an appearance for Real this season due to a thigh issue, and he has missed a staggering 113 games for club and country through injury since joining the club from Lyon in 2019.

Atletico Madrid interested in Real Madrid’s Ferland Mendy?

The France international is still contracted to Los Blancos for another two-and-a-half years, but his future prospects at the Bernabeu appear bleak given his age, fitness record and Carreras’s strong start.

According to El Nacional, however, Mendy could be offered a La Liga escape route by Atletico Madrid, whose head coach Diego Simeone is ‘fed up’ with current option Matteo Ruggeri.

Twenty-three-year-old Ruggeri signed for Los Rojiblancos from Atalanta BC this summer, but he has only started five of their 12 La Liga matches and two of their four Champions League contests so far in 2025-26.

Simeone has supposedly taken issue with Ruggeri’s lifestyle and has identified Mendy as a player who could bring ‘defensive intensity, sacrifice and reliability’ to his rearguard, thus fitting in perfectly with his philosophy.

Furthermore, in spite of the Frenchman’s well-documented injury troubles, Atletico medical staff supposedly have no serious concerns about his fitness and believe he will be consistently available with the right monitoring and planning.

Mendy has scored six goals and set up nine more in 201 appearances for Real Madrid across all tournaments and has won 11 major honours in the famous white strip, including two Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles.

Which other defenders could leave Real Madrid next summer?

Real Madrid apparently only value Mendy at around €10m (£8.8m), making the 30-year-old more than viable for Atletico financially, and he will likely be one of a few defenders to head for the Bernabeu exit door in 2026.

Experienced centre-backs David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger are both out of contract at the end of the season and are expected to depart, while the more youthful Raul Asencio could also head elsewhere if he does not receive assurances over game time.

Real Madrid are already expected to sign Ibrahima Konate on a free transfer from Liverpool next summer, when Dayot Upamecano could also join to play alongside his compatriot and Dean Huijsen if he does not renew his contract with Bayern Munich.

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