Real Madrid are desperate to sign Bayern Munich star David Alaba, despite the fact that the Bundesliga giants are not ready to sell the Austrian international, if reports from the Spanish media are to be believed.
In fact, officials from the Santiago Bernabeu visited the Bayern Munich camp last week, according to a report in Spanish newspaper AS.
Bayern Munich are said to have kept an €80 million price-tag on Alaba. However, the Los Blancos are not yet prepared to pay that much for the 23-year-old. Instead, the Real Madrid representatives submitted an offer of €50 million for Austrian international.
However, the German champions are unwilling to waiver their €80 million valuation of Alaba, and are said to have rejected Real Madrid’s offer last week [via AS].
In fact the Bavarians might not be willing to sell Alaba at all. Bayern executive director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was quoted saying last week that the Bundesliga champions do not intend to sell any more players.
“The door is closed. No player will leave Bayern against our will,” Rummenigge said to german newspaper Sport Bild [via Football Espana]. “We have a very good relationship with both Madrid and Barca. But Europe has known since 2008 we don’t sell any player against our will.”
Alaba, who is currently with the Austrian national squad in France, played his debut European championship match against Hungary on Tuesday, a match his side lost 2-0. The 23-year-old is set to play in Austria’s second group stage match against Group F favourites Portugal on Saturday night.
Where will Alaba play at Real Madrid?
Alaba is an extremely versatile player, who can operate in a number of different positions. The Austrian international normally plays as a left fullback for Bayern Munich. However, when the likes of Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber were injured, former manager Pep Guardiola had opted to play Alaba as a centreback last season.
In fact, Alaba played more matches as a centreback (25), than he did as a fullback (12) at Bayern Munich last season. However, Alaba operates as a defensive midfielder for the Austrian national team as their captain Christian Fuchs is the first choice left back there.
However, the main problem that Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane might face is the unavailability of a starting place for Alaba. Real already have a quality left back in the form of Marcelo, while the number of top midfielders they have is simply astounding (Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez, and Isco).
The only position where Alaba looks like he may get chances at the Santiago Bernabeu is at centreback, as the Los Blancos might be looking for a permanent replacement for the 33-year-old Pepe. Even in that case though, Alaba would probably have to play as the third choice centre-back after Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane.
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