Real Madrid agree to sign David Alaba on free transfer
By Tom Gott
Real Madrid have reached an agreement to sign Bayern Munich defender David Alaba when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Bayern spent months in negotiations with Alaba to try and tie the 28-year-old down to a new contract, but concerns over the salary on offer saw talks come to a halt towards the end of 2020.
As a two-time Champions League winner and nine-time Bundesliga champion, interest in Alaba was understandably high. Real were always thought to be in the lead for his signature, and Marca have now confirmed that a deal has been struck.
Nothing has been signed yet, but Alaba has agreed to a four-year contract which The Guardian state will be worth a whopping £204,000-per-week.
However, Sport Bild's Christian Falk has poured cold water on this one by saying he has spoken to Alaba's father and agent, who has revealed that nothing has been agreed with Real just yet.
Alaba rejected advances from both Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain, who are believed to have reached out to Alaba in the last few weeks, while suitors like Chelsea and Manchester City also look to have missed out.
Instead, it looks like it will be Real who will be celebrating his arrival in the near future. They have been on the lookout for a new defender for the last few months and are more than happy to pay Alaba those high wages because there is no transfer fee involved.
The likes of Villarreal's Pau Torres and Sevilla's Jules Kounde, both of whom were on Real's radar, would have cost in excess of £50m themselves, so Real have instead chosen to invest that money in Alaba instead.
This deal is not thought to be related to the future of current Real star Sergio Ramos. The 34-year-old has been locked in a contract stand-off with Los Blancos for what feels like an eternity, having grown frustrated with their refusal to offer him a two-year deal.
The door is still open for Ramos to extend his stay at Santiago Bernabeu, and the Real chiefs hope that an agreement will be found soon, but they will have at least one world-class centre-back on their books next season regardless.
It does, however, raise questions over the future of Eder Militao, whose slow adjustment to life in Spain is behind Real's desire to find a new centre-back. Bayern have been linked with a move for the Brazilian to replace Alaba, in what could be the nicest merry-go-round of the summer.