Real Madrid are continuing their pre-season in the United States but not everything is going well. Carlo Ancelotti's men have a problem with their centre-backs because David Alaba is still showing no signs of recovery. The Austrian returned to Valdebebas this week after his holidays but is still injured and may not return until 2025.
Alaba, who arrived from Bayern Munich in 2021, tore his cruciate ligament in December 2023 and his recovery is still going to take a long time. The 32-year-old footballer did not progress favourably from his injury in the first few months. The Austrian underwent surgery again in May and is still out with no return date in sight. His teammates, Militao and Courtois, had the same injury, but have already returned to the field. Next week it will be eight months since his injury and everything points to him returning at least until 2025.
During the summer, Alaba was part of the coaching staff of the Austrian national team at Euro 2024. Coach Ralf Rangnick used the captain as an assistant coach, with the intention of helping the group as a leader. In Germany, various media reported that the player had problems walking and climbing stairs during the European tournament, implying that his recovery had not progressed. The defender did not stop training and exercising alone to try to progress, although without much success.
Center crisis at Real Madrid
Taking into account all the above, the merengue team only has Militao and Rüdiger as 'top' center backs. Jesús Vallejo is not at the level of Real Madrid and Tchouaméni is not very happy playing center back, although it is most likely that he will have to adapt to this position. As for the youngsters, the reserves have Jacobo Ramón, Marvel and Raúl Asencio as possible alternatives if any of the starters get injured. With a coach who says that "the squad is complete", there could be some very interesting months ahead for Real Madrid if they don't manage to secure a replacement in this transfer market.