Florentino Wants to Make a Double Signing in the Premier League, Calafat Approves Both

One of Real Madrid's transfer targets for the summer 2025 market, after Toni Kroos's retirement, is the midfield. The replacement for the former German '8' seemed to be Dani Ceballos, but the injury of the Sevillian '19' has reopened the debate in the Valdebebas offices with names like Martín Zubimendi. But it's not the only position in Santiago Bernabéu locker room that concerns the management, given the striking number of injuries the defense has suffered this season.

Carlo Ancelotti has been immersed in a 'more difficult still' at certain points of the current soccer season, balancing to compose a starting eleven that the white executives hope to eliminate definitively. The arrival of a right-back, perhaps Trent Alexander-Arnold as a free agent, would be the first step in the right direction. The next addition is that of a center-back, a move that doesn't seem as simple as many consider.

Because the Madrid executives must navigate a tide of rumors regarding elite European footballers like William Saliba or Castello Lukeba. Both French center-backs, however, would have lost many points due to their extremely high transfer fee, set above 90 million euros. To 'replace' those expensive options came Dean Huijsen to the reports handled by Juni Calafat: the head of Madrid's scouting could have a 'favorite'.

The projections left by the Spanish center-back, of Dutch origin, this season at AFC Bournemouth have not only caught the attention in the Valdebebas offices... although the white club is currently configured as the main offeror of a defender who would cost about 60 million euros. That price seems much more affordable for Madrid's treasury, sparking the need to expand the range of action and secure the signing of the footballer who always accompanies him: Milos Kerkez.

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The latest rumors about the possible signing of Dean Huijsen by Real Madrid reveal a change in the roadmap of the Madrid emissaries. Because the board led by Florentino Pérez would not only try to sign the Spanish defender, but would also aspire to sign him along with his inseparable partner, the Hungarian center-back.

With this double signing, all debates about the generational replacement in the heart of the defense would end, one of the last positions to be modified by this process. Initiated in summer 2018, it has affected other areas like the forward line or the midfield, but its arrival in the defense has been postponed for several years. The good performance of veteran footballers like Antonio Rüdiger and David Alaba has been the main cause of that surprising decision.

But the alarming accumulation of injuries in the defensive line during the last two seasons has focused attention on that area of the field. Carlo Ancelotti, thanks to the arrival of Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez, would see some claims he has made since summer 2024 addressed, with Nacho Fernández's departure as a free agent. The 'Yoro case' was initially intended to solve that shortage of personnel, but the offer from Manchester United surprised the Madrid negotiators.

The arrival of the fashionable center-back pair from AFC Bournemouth, an operation that would be close to 100 million euros, would be the definitive investment of the white club. The incorporation of these two young defenders, as well as the arrival of Trent Alexander-Arnold, would close the debate on the defensive generational replacement... pending an ideal candidate to complete the roster of left-backs during or after the summer of 2027.