{"id":15372,"date":"2025-05-13T19:20:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T13:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=597456"},"modified":"2025-05-13T19:20:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T13:50:17","slug":"three-defenders-shortlisted-following-xabi-alonsos-managerial-takeover-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/three-defenders-shortlisted-following-xabi-alonsos-managerial-takeover-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Three defenders shortlisted following Xabi Alonso\u2019s managerial takeover news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid have reportedly shortlisted three defenders for the upcoming summer transfer window. As Xabi Alonso is set to become next manager of Real Madrid, the club is eyeing a move for new defender on priority. Bournemouth\u2019s Dean Huijsen, William Saliba, and Ibrahima Konate are on their shortlist for the summer. Xabi Alonso will surely have a new centre-back in the next season and time will say who among these three joins the Los Blancos.<\/p>\n<p>As Xabi Alonso prepares to take over the managerial reins at Real Madrid this summer, the Spanish giants have reportedly drawn up a shortlist of three central defenders to bolster their backline ahead of the 2025\/26 season. Strengthening the defence is said to be a top priority for the incoming boss.<\/p>\n<p>The trio under consideration includes Bournemouth\u2019s Dean Huijsen, Arsenal\u2019s William Saliba, and Liverpool\u2019s Ibrahima Konat\u00e9. All three offer different profiles\u2014Huijsen brings youth and potential, Saliba is known for his composure and positional awareness, while Konat\u00e9 offers physicality and pace.<\/p>\n<p>Real Madrid are looking to future-proof their defence with Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s era nearing its end and the club\u2019s backline aging. With Xabi Alonso keen to implement his tactical philosophy, a reliable and commanding centre-back is essential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid have reportedly shortlisted three defenders for the upcoming summer transfer window. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":34785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[423,3893,2432,3919,2448,266,3696,3608],"class_list":["post-15372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-bayer-leverkusen","tag-dean-huijsen","tag-ibrahima-konate","tag-la-liga","tag-los-blancos","tag-real-madrid","tag-william-saliba","tag-xabi-alonso"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}