Xabi Alonso starts the preseason with a stars -lined team. While the club is waiting for final departure that can open the door for a late midfield reinforcement, Real Madrid has the most valuable schedule in world football, according to transfer market – a stunning $ 1,52 billion (€ 1,397 billion) in market value.
That treasure is now in the hands of the man from Tolosa, who faces the challenge of making his players ready for 15 days.
No time – and no summer tour. But everyone is here. Or almost. The side of 2025–26 Madrid returned to the training in Valdebebas on Monday, the last La Liga club to get started. Thirty-three days after Celta-the earliest risers started his own preparations in the top department of Spain-Hun. And 25 days behind Osasuna, the opening of Madrid in the competition. While the Pamplona side came into gear, Madrid just landed back from their US Club World Cup adventure.
This is the first full project of Xabi Alonso, after the starter after that Club World Cup, and it is forced to hit a cruising speed from day out. The sprint started with a marathon of one day: medical and gym work in the morning, followed by the first training session under a merciless sun in the afternoon. The temperature? 100.8 ° F (38.2 ° C), where the capital is still sucking in a heat wave. Only three absences: wounded trio Jude Bellingham, Endrick and Ferland Mendy and Franco Mastantuono, who cannot participate until 14 August when he turns 18.
A glittering addition for a luxury team. Madrid's 25-man selection is appreciated at $ 1.52 billion (€ 1.397 billion), making them the most valuable team in the world, for giants supported by the state such as Manchester City and PSG, and by the US-investor-driven Premier League-Sijds such as Liverpool, Chelseea and Arsenal. Barcelona, for comparison, ranking sixth at $ 1.23 billion (€ 1,126 billion).
Xabi Alonso has three of the world's five most valuable players at his disposal: Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé (each at $ 196 million) and Vinícius Júnior ($ 185 million). Fede Valverde also makes the Global Top 10 at $ 142 million.
Madrid's $ 196m spent signing sessions
Madrid may start a new chapter, but there were many familiar faces on the first day. Alonso's version 1.0 finally started with the club World Cup in the US, where the first signing sessions-Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold-Al made their debut. Still waiting for Mastantuono (who does not arrive until August 14), the only real newcomer of Monday was Álvaro Carreras, finally to meet his new teammates. They may be strangers to him, but Valdebebas is not: the defender born in Ferrol knows the place of his three years in Madrid's Youth Academy.
These four new signing sessions are account for the largest edition of Madrid in six years – $ 196m (€ 178 million) – because the club is looking for a reset after the double disappointment of last season in Laliga and the Champions League.
15 days and a single friendly
It is a unique short preseason. Alonso has only 15 days to refine his team-the shortest summer preparation in the modern history of the club. Only 40 days separate the PSG match from the LABERA opener against Osasuna three days less than in the Covid-disturbed summer of 2020. At that time, players had had two months off during Lockdown. This time they come behind the back of the most intense season ever: 68 games played.
In 2020, Madrid's opener was postponed, making Zinedine Zidane 20 days to prepare. No luck for Alonso. With Liga who refuses to postpone the start date of Madrid, and the Spanish FA's Competition Committee also refuses a joint request from the club and Players' Union (with the support of Osasuna), there is no way back. On Tuesday the 19th, the lights will be in the Bernabéu for the first time this season, with the visitors for 40 days and six friendly matches in their legs.
Alonso now has only one test match. Just like in 2019 and 2021, Madrid goes to Austria for a final (and some) warm-up fixture-next Tuesday, in Innsbruck, against WSG Tyrol. A comfortable journey there and back in a day, and a modest opponent who ended last season at the bottom of the Austrian Bundesliga. There is no time for it anymore. The countdown has begun: on August 19, the world's most valuable team wants to win.
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