Real Madrid’s strong season so far has been made all the more impressive due to the number of injury blows suffered by members of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad. This has especially been the case in central defence, where Los Blancos have often been down to the bare bones.
Eder Militao has been absent for the entire season, having tore his ACL on MD1 against Athletic Club, while David Alaba did similarly against Villarreal in December. That left Antonio Rudiger and Nacho Fernandez as Real Madrid’s only natural options at centre-back, but despite this, no new signing was made in January.
That’s not to say that they weren’t interest in making an addition. According to Diario AS, Union Berlin’s Diogo Leite emerged as a possible option to join on loan until the summer, although club officials ended up passing on that in order to stick with Rudiger and Nacho, and also Aurelien Tchouameni and Dani Carvajal as emergency backup options.
Not signing a defender in January hasn’t overly affected Real Madrid, although the extra depth would have been valuable. Still, with Militao set for a return in the next month or so, it’s no longer a necessity.
