La Liga
Carvajal's contract expires at the end of June Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Real Madrid, our weekly series to follow throughout La Liga’s 2025-26 season.
Each week, we will bring you key information and analysis on the biggest talking points, cutting through the noisy world of all things Madridista with reporting you can trust.
The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at Madrid, all of whom spoke anonymously to protect relationships.
Advertisement
Dani Carvajal.
Real Madrid picked up three important points with a 2-0 win at Valencia last night, thanks to goals from Alvaro Carreras and Kylian Mbappe. But head coach Alvaro Arbeloa surprised everyone by picking academy graduate David Jimenez at right-back.
Trent Alexander-Arnold did make his return from injury when replacing 21-year-old Jimenez in the 76th minute, but Carvajal was left out once again. The 34-year-old club captain returned from a knee injury in early January but has only played 27 minutes since.
Carvajal’s contract expires in June, and no talks over a renewal have been held so far. In Madrid’s past four matches, he has not played a single minute.
After the game, The Athletic observed Carvajal out on the pitch going through some post-match drills with physical trainer Antonio Pintus. You could clearly see that Carvajal was annoyed. Sources close to the player said he was “p****d off” about not playing, but added that he would continue to train hard.
In his post-match press conference, Arbeloa said he was “seeing Dani improve in training little by little” but didn’t want to “take any risks”. Sources at Madrid’s training ground said last week that Carvajal was ready to play, although not for more than 60 minutes.
Arbeloa added: “It’s very important for the players to have him as a reference point in the dressing room, and I’m sure he’ll find his best form.”
Carvajal has spent 23 years at Madrid. As a senior player with so many years of service, he has a special status at the club — but his future is up in the air regardless.
In some previous cases, Madrid have told senior players whose contracts are expiring (such as Nacho and Toni Kroos) that they can make the decision on whether they want to stay or not. However, that did not happen with Luka Modric last season and does not appear to be the case with Carvajal either, as things stand.
Well-placed sources have said Madrid’s board are having doubts about offering him a renewal. Sources on the player’s side are not convinced he will end up staying, either. They also said he does not feel like Arbeloa has explained why he is not playing.
Advertisement
In recent weeks, sources close to the dressing room have spoken of an improvement in atmosphere since Xabi Alonso’s sacking as manager. It will be interesting to see how the Carvajal situation affects that. It could also lead to Madrid looking to strengthen at right-back in the transfer market. The idea has already been discussed at the club.
Arbeloa’s start to life as Madrid manager has certainly been rocky. The team has suffered some damaging defeats and they have been jeered during matches at the Bernabeu — but there were several positives to take from Sunday’s game.
Even before Alonso was fired, on January 12, the team had been going well in La Liga (at least in terms of results). Victory at Valencia was their seventh in a row in Spain’s top flight, and they remain just one point behind defending champions Barcelona, who won 3-0 at home to Mallorca on Saturday and lead the table.
“We’re surviving,” said a member of Madrid’s staff as they left Mestalla. Coaching staff sources have emphasised that they need time to get the team performing to its full potential — something made trickier by the number of injuries.
Meanwhile, Mbappe grabbed his 38th goal of the season in all competitions from a 91st-minute counter-attack to seal the points. He leads La Liga’s scoring charts with 23 goals from 22 games.
“There are no adjectives left to describe Kylian,” Arbeloa told Real Madrid TV. “We thought we would never see anyone like Cristiano (Ronaldo) again, but this guy is on his way.”
Advertisement
There was also a slightly better performance from Dean Huijsen. He has been criticised over sloppiness in previous games but was solid at the back and impressive with his passing to break Valencia’s lines. Despite some absences and recent reports that he is still experiencing physical problems, sources close to Huijsen insist that he is now in perfect condition.
It was also good to see Alexander-Arnold make his return from the thigh injury he suffered in early December — just when we were starting to see signs of his best. The 27-year-old will now hope to push on and finally show what he can do at his new club. He has only managed 511 minutes since arriving from Liverpool in the summer.
The other big story of the weekend for Madrid was Barcelona’s announcement that they are “formally withdrawing” from the European Super League (ESL).
The project was launched in 2021 with the support of 12 clubs: six from England and three from Spain and Italy. Now, only Real Madrid remain officially involved.
Sources at A22, the ESL’s promoting company, said Barcelona’s announcement came as no surprise, as they did not decide to take legal action against UEFA back in October, as Madrid and A22 have.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta also showed his closeness to UEFA when he met with its president Aleksander Ceferin at a European Football Clubs event in Rome that month.
Madrid have not made a public statement about Barcelona’s position, but a sign of their continuing commitment to the ESL came as recently as January.
On the subject of a potential new ownership model, senior Madrid sources told The Athletic that any potential investors would have to align themselves with the club’s long-term strategy, and the ESL was mentioned as part of that.
Meanwhile, Carvajal and Antonio Rudiger were in London last week with Madrid’s newly-appointed head of medical services Niko Mihic, for check-ups on their physical condition. Both players came out with positive results, even if neither came off the bench at Valencia.
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle
