Although Real Madrid are still in La Liga title contention and among the clubs in the Champions League knockout stages, it has been another tumultuous season for the Royal Whites, who already gave up on Xabi Alonso after being embarrassed by Barcelona in yet another cup final. Meanwhile, in the other cup, the Copa del Rey, the Merengues were embarrassed by second division side Albacete (who have Jesus Vallejo, of all players).
There is dysfunction rife in the heart of Madrid, but there are also genuine problems with the squad that have not been addressed. The defense remains shambolic in big games, while the midfield has been gutted by the losses of legends Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, who were never replaced.
With the summer 2026 transfer window on the horizon in just four short months, here is an early look at the 10 best players Real Madrid could ink in order to get back to being THE dominant force in European football again.
Liverpool CB Ibrahima Konate
After briefly falling out of the race for Ibrahima Konate, Real Madrid are back involved in the sweepstakes to sign the best available free agent, though Liverpool have been ramping up their own interest in keeping the talented Frenchman.
In the recent past, Real Madrid have signed David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger as free agents, and each of the former Bundesliga standouts helped Real Madrid conquer Champions League crowns in the 2021/22 and 2023/24 seasons, respectively.
Now, both Alaba and Rudiger are finished and on their way out, meanwhile, Konate is younger than both and just as good as they were upon hitting free agency. If he is indeed available this summer, he would be an easy enough signing to make.
Borussia Dortmund CB Nico Schlotterbeck
A current Bundesliga star, Nico Schlotterbeck is one of the best available center backs on the market, and, funnily enough, Liverpool are among the clubs looking into Schlotty as a potential upgrade on Ibrahima Konate.
Although the German international can be prone to terrible mistakes at inopportune times, the rest of his skill-set is highly intriguing, and Schlotterbeck is yet to hit the true peak years of his career.
Very few central defenders are as adept as Schlotterbeck at passing the ball, progressing the ball, and even scoring chances. He is a rare athlete and has the potential to be exactly the kind of brave, on-an-island center back Real Madrid are looking for.
RB Leipzig CB Castello Lukeba
The RB Leipzig center back pipeline is one of the strongest in European football, and in addition to Dayot Upamecano (who is now off the table after re-signing with Bayern Munich this winter) and Ibrahima Konate, a current member of the east German club is squarely on Real’s radar yet again.
Castello Lukeba was a star for Lyon before upping his game even further for Leipzig, and he is playing the football of his life in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season as one of the league’s best players.
A shutdown one-on-one defender, Lukeba is also adept on the ball as a passer. Real Madrid need, above all else, a great young defensive center back who can hang with the best forwards on Barcelona and the Champions League; Lukeba is the one guy who could be as good as a healthy Eder Militao in that regard.
PSG CM Vitinha
An afterthought for most people, Vitinha was one of the breakout superstars of the 2024/25 season and the best center midfielder in European football, playing a crucial role in PSG finally conquering the Champions League title.
The 27-year-old is now in the prime of his career and remains one of Europe’s best, even as the Ligue 1 giants are struggling to put away the league this season amidst another gutsy title challenge from Lens.
While the likelihood of Real Madrid signing any player from PSG is just about zero, especially someone as important as Vitinha, that has not stopped even Fabrizio Romano from linking the Merengues to Vitinha, though the overall transfer package will almost certainly end up being too excessive for even Real’s liking; Florentino Perez has been notoriously stingy of late.
PSG CM Fabian Ruiz
Sticking with the Parisians, Fabian Ruiz was one of the top up-and-coming center midfielders in La Liga at Real Betis alongside a player Real Madrid did pick up, Dani Ceballos.
While Ceballos is a good player and horribly underrated by the entitled subsection of the Real Madrid faithful, Ruiz has become an even higher-profile midfielder in recent years, with the Spanish international really upping his game under former national team coach Luis Enrique in Paris.
The highly technical left-footer has gone from one of Europe’s best goal threats from range with finessed shots to opening up his catalogue of goals even more while becoming a world-class tempo-setter and true all-around midfielder.
Again, it is highly unlikely PSG will ever sit at the bargaining table with Real Madrid and seriously negotiate a transfer involving one of their best players, but if Ruiz were to ever be available, he’d be at the top of the Madrid midfield wishlist alongside teammate Vitinha as this team clearly lacks tempo-setters with Toni Kroos and Luka Modric gone.
Como AM Nico Paz
Real Madrid have an embarrassment of playmaking riches, and after being linked to Florian Wirtz, Xabi Alonso decided to throw everyone a curveball. While he did indeed land a highly touted young attacking midfielder, he and Real Madrid bypassed the Bundesliga Player of the Season for Argentinian jewel Franco Mastantuono.
While he is far from the finished product and really shouldn’t be playing so much on the right wing, Mastantuono has shown glimpses of future superstardom. He, Arda Guler, Jude Bellingham, and even Brahim Diaz are among the best attacking midfielders in Europe this season, and yet the best player on Madrid’s books at the position is playing in Italy.
Nico Paz has already surpassed Brahim’s Serie A legacy, carrying Como into the European footballing conversation as the league’s unequivocal best player right now. He is a world-class playmaker and ball progressor for Como, and he’s also a decisive contributor to goals – and even a solid defensive presence.
There is no doubt that Real Madrid will buy Paz back, with many large outlets in Spain already reporting that the deal is done, as the young Argentinian international can be re-purchased from Como for nine million euros.
The only question, then, is how soon will it be until Paz starts? Will he, like Martin Odegaard and Mastantuono before him, be a starter from Day 1 and supplant Mastantuono and even Guler? Call this a first-world problem.
AZ Alkmaar DM Kees Smit
Deep-lying playmakers are all the rage, and while Real Madrid actually did get in the door way earlier than everyone else back in 2022 when they spent 80 million euros to bring in Monaco star Aurelien Tchouameni after their Champions League win as the heir to Casemiro.
Tchouameni is a decent player, but he’s made more progress as a defender in the midfield than as an actual playmaker. While he is not a bad passer, he has neither become their to Toni Kroos in setting the table, nor, obviously, has he replicated Casemiro’s robust defensive involvement.
So ideally, Real Madrid would sign another top defensive midfielder to pair with Tchouameni, albeit one with more upside as a chance-creator from deep. Guler can play this role, yes, but the defensive part of his game may never evolve to that point due to athletic limitations.
Kees Smit is an unheralded name from the Dutch Eredivisie who is starting to be linked with some high-profile suitors, and Madrid’s chief scout Juni Calafat is said to be high on the U21 talent.
Smit is averaging 1.6 key passes per game and 2.1 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per match. Still raw, ideally, Real Madrid would sign a veteran midfielder in addition to the AZ Alkmaar prospect, but if Calafat is set on him, Madrid should be, too.
Crystal Palace DM Adam Wharton
No league has embraced the No. 6 position and the virtues of the deep-lying playmaker more than the Premier League, which may have the most enticing group of up-and-coming players at the position, with the most prized being Adam Wharton.
Virtually every Big Six club will be taking a look at Wharton, with the exception of Chelsea and Arsenal, who have already forged a robust crop of multiple standout defensive midfielders within their ranks – and even then, I’d still bet on the two London giants taking a gander at the local Crystal Palace star.
Wharton is having another standout season as a holding midfielder for a Palace side that is being gutted by transfers. Palace will demand a figure near eight zeroes behind a one, but Wharton could be worth it if Calafat and Co. are sold on him as their solution to the center midfield problem.
Chelsea DM Enzo Fernandez
Now this is a huge stretch and maybe almost as big of a pipe dream signing as Vitinha from PSG, but if there were any chance that Chelsea were to listen to offers for World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez, Real Madrid had better be on the phone and asking about the best defensive midfielder in the game at making game-changing plays.
No player at the position in the Premier League is as adept at getting into the box and scoring, and Enzo’s technical quality is often shrouded by all the hard defensive work he ends up having to do in order to cover for one of the worst defenses of any top club in England.
A record 121 million euro transfer from Benfica, Enzo initially looked like a bust, but Chelsea believed in him over Mauricio Pochettino and Conor Gallagher and have been rewarded for it.
Real Madrid have been linked to Enzo this year already, and while the rumors of him being unsettled are about as believable as the Cole Palmer rumblings that popped up several weeks ago, any hint of unrest is an opening Madrid can exploit through their intermediaries to potentially land a truly big fish in one of their most dire positions of need.
Manchester City ST Erling Haaland
The one that got away from Real Madrid in 2022 when Los Blancos went all-in for Kylian Mbappe and came up empty-handed, Erling Haaland immediately brought the long-awaited Champions League and treble to the Etihad and set the record for most goals in a single Premier League season.
Despite a lot of turnover around him, Haaland remains as brilliant as ever in front of goal, though Man City’s playing style away from purely athletic counterattacking has removed the dimensions from the Norwegian’s game that we saw at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
Haaland loves Manchester City and genuinely seems impossible to move for, but, remember, he bought a house in Marbella in 2022 and only didn’t move to Madrid because they went after Mbappe instead – meanwhile, Barcelona were out of money at the time.
Florentino Perez remains quietly obsessed with Haaland, while Barcelona president Joan Laporta’s long-standing admiration for the ponytailed striker as a Robert Lewandowski successor has been anything but silent.
Imagine the forward partnership of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland with a midfield quartet of Aurelien Tchouameni, Fede Valverde, Arda Guler, and Jude Bellingham behind them with Guler operating as a pure No. 10. Madridistas can dream.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.