Real Madrid have been thinking hard about finally making a push for a top right back on the transfer market next summer, as Dani Carvajal’s season-ending injury has truly exposed a problem that has been lingering for a few years now.
Backup Lucas Vazquez, despite being a right winger by trade, was largely good enough as Carvajal’s backup, but now he’s being entrusted as the starter for an extended period.
Barcelona tore Vazquez to shreds in El Clasico last week, and it isn’t the first time the Galician wide man has been left badly exposed defensively on the right flank.
Real Madrid dream of signing Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold, a generational talent and the only right back who can rival Carvajal as the world’s best right now.
Alexander-Arnold is on an expiring contract and still hasn’t re-signed with Liverpool, but since many expect him to ultimately stay at Anfield, Real Madrid have to consider all their options at right back.
Former academy product Achraf Hakimi, who became close friends with Kylian Mbappe, has been stellar for PSG since joining them from Inter Milan a few years back.
Hakimi ended up at Inter, winning Serie A in 2020/21, because he didn’t want to stick around Real Madrid as Carvajal’s backup after two exceptional seasons on loan at Borussia Dortmund; he wanted to start and make a name for himself.
That he did. However, Hakimi has also always held out hope for a move back to Real Madrid, and when Mbappe finally joined the Merengues this past summer, there was hope from some Madridistas that the dream return would come to tuition in 2025.
Unfortunately for Real Madrid, Fabrizio Romano reports that Hakimi’s new contract with PSG is just about ready, and that would take the world-class right back off the table as a Real transfer target for the foreseeable future.
Hakimi’s contract was set to expire in 2026, so Real could have signed him in two years for free, seeing as how PSG were unlikely to sell him at a reduced price in 2025 after their anger at losing Mbappe for free (which was their own fault anyway).
Still in the prime of his career 25 despite being on the scene as a key starter in a top five league since the 2018/19 season, Hakimi would have been a very attacking option for Real Madrid compared to Carvajal – and even compared to Alexander-Arnold.
So from that vantage point, Real Madrid may not have seriously pursued Hakimi anyway. Nonetheless, he was probably the best backup plan to TAA, so with PSG set to keep him under wraps, that qualifies as a slight blow to Madrid’s transfer strategy.