Real Madrid Pursues Bastoni as Mourinho Prepares for New Season
A week out from the start of preseason, Real Madrid are still a team in transit. Jose Mourinho is due back on the Valdebebas pitches with his players, yet the squad he will inherit is not complete and not fully trimmed.
The club have already started the clear-out. Dani Ceballos, Dani Carvajal and David Alaba have all said their goodbyes, three experienced figures walking out of a dressing room that is being reshaped at pace. Four new signings are already through the door, but inside the club nobody is pretending the work is done.
Mourinho wants more. Specifically, a centre-back and a midfielder.
Midfield search stalls
The hunt in the middle of the pitch has hit turbulence. Two options have slipped away: the path to Matues Fernandes has closed, and Enzo Fernandez is no longer on the table either. That leaves Madrid without a clear, available first-choice target in a zone Mourinho considers vital.
The need has not gone away. The name, for now, has.
Back line in focus
At centre-back, the picture is far sharper. Real Madrid have identified Alessandro Bastoni as their man: left-footed, accomplished, and hardened by Serie A and Champions League battles with Inter Milan.
According to SPORT, via journalist Fabio Gatto, Madrid plan to move this week. The intention is straightforward: contact Inter, ask for their stance, and discover the starting price. The idea in the offices at Valdebebas is to accelerate the deal rather than drift into a long summer saga.
The pressure is on the calendar as much as the market. Mourinho wants clarity before preseason rhythms truly bite.
Bastoni’s stance is clear
On the player’s side, the door is wide open. Bastoni wants a change of scenery and has fixed his sights on the Bernabéu. Inter offered him a renewal with a pay rise; he turned it down. That decision, more than any statement, underlined his intention.
Inter, fresh from a Serie A title, are not expected to let him go cheaply. The Italian champions value him at around €65 million, a fee that reflects both his age and his status as one of the most coveted left-footed central defenders in Europe.
Space required at the back
For Madrid, Bastoni is not just a luxury. He fits a structural need. Their core of centre-backs is heavily right-footed; a naturally left-sided defender would balance Mourinho’s back line, both in build-up and in defensive coverage.
But the numbers are brutal. The club already have 11 defenders in the first-team picture. Before Bastoni can arrive, space has to be created.
That is where the exits come in. Madrid are working on the departures of a centre-back and a left-back, with Fran Garcia and Raul Asencio at the front of the queue to move on this summer. Only once those deals progress can the Bastoni operation truly accelerate.
The clock is ticking. Mourinho is about to blow the whistle on a new era at Real Madrid. Whether Alessandro Bastoni is lining up on that first day of preseason may say a lot about how decisively the club intend to back their new coach.
