Why Davies could pave the way for Mbappe's Real Madrid transfer

Stuart Telford

• 7 Dec 2023 16:21 GMT
• 3 min read

Alphonso Davies' potential transfer to Real Madrid could pave the way for Kylian Mbappe's own arrival at the Santiago Bernabeu…

Real are always in the market for the next 'Galactico', and look to have signed another in Jude Bellingham, his €103 million arrival from Borussia Dortmund in July since followed by 15 goals in 17 games.

But Mbappe has long been at the top of Florentino Perez's shopping list, and the French superstar remains out of contract with Paris Saint-Germain come the end of the season.

Davies is another who Real covet, the Bayern Munich youngster considered to have the ability to become the best left-back in the world, if indeed he isn't that already.

Bayern 'want to avoid the Alaba case'

Bayern are desperate not to find themselves in a PSG-esque situation which could see them lose the Canadian on a free transfer in 2025, and would rather facilitate a transfer with certain players used as makeweights.

"Bayern want to avoid the [David] Alaba case," writes Defensa Central's Luis Alberto Lopez of the Austrian's free transfer to Madrid in 2021. "Bayern could present Real with a simple exchange between Rodrygo and Davies, or one with Nico Paz plus money."

Should Rodrygo leave for Bayern, it would leave space in Real's team up ahead of Bellingham, with Mbappe occupying one of the two spots in their attack alongside Vinicius Junior in the other.

A Davies transfer away from Bayern would appear to be growing increasingly likely, meanwhile. He had agreed terms with Hasan Salihamidzic before the sporting director's dismissal, but is now demanding €15m a year according to reports.

Such an amount would still only make Davies the 10th best paid player in Bavaria, €10m a year behind England captain Harry Kane, but he would overtake another summer arrival in former Napoli man Kim Min-jae.