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17 August 2026

Rodri’s move to Barcelona could hardly have been worse news for Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho.

Not only have they missed out on what looked like the ideal answer to their midfield issue, they have also had to watch him sign for their fiercest rivals. So where do they turn now?

Here are six possible alternatives Real Madrid may look at after failing to land Rodri.

Xabi Alonso was reportedly said to have earmarked Martin Zubimendi, a player he had previously worked with in Real Sociedad’s youth system, as the ideal option for Real Madrid’s midfield after the exits of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

Trying to sign him a year later would be gloriously petty, but with Florentino Perez involved, that possibility cannot be dismissed.

Zubimendi is arguably the clearest Rodri replacement available. He has been Rodri’s understudy for Spain, and his outstanding displays from the bench in the Euro 2024 final and the 2026 World Cup final suggest he is capable of performing that same role at the very highest standard.

The difficult part would be tempting him away from Arsenal. Zubimendi was dependable for much of his first season there, even if he did not exactly set everything alight.

Even so, there was a feeling that the physical intensity of Premier League football eventually began to wear him down.

His omission in favour of Myles Lewis-Skelly in the Champions League final may also have hinted that a return to Spain could happen sooner rather than later.

Kylian Mbappe would almost certainly speak highly of the Roma midfielder Manu Kone, especially after his breakthrough performances for France at the World Cup.

He would not be a perfect like-for-like Rodri replacement, but then again, very few players can reproduce the qualities of a Ballon d’Or winner who was named the best player in both of Spain’s latest major tournament triumphs.

Kone could instead offer the energy and bite to complement a more refined passer. Pair him with someone such as Bernardo Silva and, together, they could reproduce much of what Rodri gives a team on his own.

But that is exactly the issue: Rodri is the best midfielder in the world because he somehow combines the work of two players into one. Real Madrid’s setback is Barcelona’s gain.

At this stage, the Enzo Fernandez story has become exhausting. Just make the move already.

The Argentine has already made his interest in Madrid fairly obvious. He would surely relish the chance to leave the Premier League behind and escape being loudly booed at grounds across the country. Yet so far, Los Blancos have shown little interest in responding.

He certainly appears better suited to Spanish football than English football, and a reunion with fellow Argentine Cristian Romero at Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone would also feel like a perfect fit.

Still, it is easy to imagine Jose Mourinho admiring him as well. The bigger issue is how anyone would find the €120million needed to prise him away from Chelsea.

Angelo Stiller is not exactly a straight Rodri substitute either, but the fact that Manchester City are reportedly looking at him to fill that midfield gap says plenty about his quality.

It is remarkable that Stiller has not yet secured a major move away from Stuttgart and is still only surfacing in transfer speculation.

If you trust the numbers, the 25-year-old Germany international may well be one of the finest defensive midfielders in European football at the moment.

He may not have the glamour usually associated with a club like Madrid, but then neither did Luka Modric when he arrived. Nor did Claude Makelele in his time.

This is a club that often thrives when it balances superstar names with a touch of understated excellence in the middle of the pitch.

Like Stiller, Aleix Garcia is not the kind of signing that would leave Madrid supporters breathless. But after spending more than €100million on a flashy new attacker, a more affordable and practical midfield addition might actually make a lot of sense.

Garcia is not a world-class game-changer, but he is a Spain international, has proven himself in La Liga, and does at least match the profile of what Madrid’s midfield is currently missing.

Taking elite players away from Bayer Leverkusen has also looked like a fairly straightforward process, as shown by the sell-off from Xabi Alonso’s title-winning squad.

We almost choked on our breakfast when we saw a report from Spanish radio station Cadena SER suggesting that Mourinho is “banking on a surprise card” in midfield by planning to use Trent Alexander-Arnold there.

That claim deserves a huge pinch of salt, but it is not completely illogical. Clearly, Alexander-Arnold is not a defensive midfielder who can sit in front of the back four and shield the defence.

However, he has played in midfield before and possesses the kind of technical passing range Madrid have badly missed since Kroos and Modric departed, although Bernardo Silva should help in that regard.

Denzel Dumfries has arrived and appears far more like Mourinho’s preferred type of defensively reliable right-back, which raises an awkward question over where that leaves the former Liverpool player. Perhaps somewhere else on the team sheet?

One of Rodri’s greatest strengths is his ability to get on the ball and dictate the rhythm of a match from midfield.

Alexander-Arnold could conceivably help deliver some of that collectively, if we are going fully Moneyball with the idea, but he would surely need someone more physical and positionally disciplined next to him.

On paper, a Trent Alexander-Arnold-Aurelien Tchouameni pivot is not the worst concept in the world. Even so, we will believe it when we actually see it.