Today, Friday the 17th of July 2026, it has been reported that former Real Madrid boss, Alvaro Arbeloa, wants reunion with three players from the club.
With the World Cup coming to an end, attention is already shifting back to Real Madrid and the summer transfer window. Amidst the chaos of the tournament, it is understandable to be slightly lagging behind when it comes to the latest news, so let's keep you updated on the latest news.
You may have noticed that, in the last couple of weeks, Premier League side Fulham announced Alvaro Arbeloa as their new manager, after he had taken charge of the Real Madrid first team for the second half of last season.
This has lead to some fans wondering if he would be interested in taking any of the players he had (within reason) with him to West London, particularly the players he would have worked with in the academy.
Well, according to Diario AS, that is indeed the case. They are reporting that Arbeloa wants as many as three of his former players to join him at Fulham, with the 43-year old said to have asked the club to look at Gonzalo Garcia, Cesar Palacios and Franco Mastantuono.
The former two make sense, considering he had also worked with them for Castilla. It is a little surprising to hear that he is interested in Mastantunono, however. He used him very sparingly at Real Madrid, even when Rodrygo suffered his ACL injury.
However, Harry Wilson - who was arguably Fulham's best player, and a right winger - has departed the club on a free transfer this summer, and will absolutely need replacing, so perhaps from that point of view, it does make a bit more sense.
Palacios did briefly play for the first team last season, but not very often - with just 116 minutes over three games across La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.
As for Garcia, that one in particular seems very sensible. He is not super young anymore, and needs to play. However, Diario AS also report that he has surprised everyone with his peak physical condition, and he wants to prove himself to Jose Mourinho. So keep an eye on that one.
Perhaps the surprise here is that there has been no link to Thiago Pitarch. He was the academy player that Arbeloa gave the most game time to during his spell as first team manager last season. Perhaps he is too valuable to Real Madrid and thus any interest is academic.
Let's see.
