Real Madrid's Mistake: The Rodri Decision and Zubimendi's Potential

Real Madrid are discovering what it costs to say no to a player like Rodri.

They had the chance. They walked away. Now, with their midfield stripped bare against Inter Milan, the absence of a true controller at the level of the Barcelona anchor is haunting José Mourinho’s side every time the tempo rises.

A team that runs, but doesn’t rule

As reported by Sport, Mourinho’s Madrid do not dominate games. They survive them. The structure leans heavily on fast breaks, on the chaos that gives Vinícius, Mbappé and Bellingham room to tear into the final third.

When it works, it looks devastating. When it doesn’t, the flaws are brutal.

Opponents are starting to read the pattern. Win the ball back, play through Madrid’s midfield, and the danger swings the other way. Inter did it repeatedly. Thibaut Courtois had to clean up the mess, preventing the kind of damage that would have turned a warning into a full-blown crisis.

All of it circles back to the same decision: Madrid did not do everything they could to sign Rodri.

They chose a different profile instead. The club preferred Bernardo Silva, a more attack-minded option, one Barcelona ultimately turned down. That left Mourinho still building from deep with Tchouaméni, Valverde and Camavinga – three excellent midfielders, none of them a metronome in Rodri’s mould.

The result is a team that can explode, but struggles to construct.

Patchwork ideas, permanent problem

Madrid’s attack-building remains an unfinished project. The staff have toyed with creative solutions. Arda Güler dropping in to help. Trent Alexander-Arnold as a hybrid playmaker from deep. Smart ideas on paper, useful in phases, but all of them stop short of what a natural controller brings.

None of them is Rodri.

That’s why the club have already turned their eyes to January. The winter window offers a chance to correct what now feels like a structural mistake. And the name at the top of the list is one they already chased in the summer: Martín Zubimendi.

The Arsenal midfielder could become the opportunity they missed once and do not want to miss again.

Zubimendi’s shrinking role at Arsenal

In England, the predictions have started to pile up. People see the same thing: Zubimendi’s importance at Arsenal is shrinking.

The Spaniard has begun all five of the Gunners’ official games this season on the bench. The clearest sign came in the Champions League clash with Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. A big European night, a stage built for a deep-lying organiser – and Zubimendi watched almost all of it. Mikel Arteta gave him only eight minutes.

This isn’t a sudden dip. His battle for minutes stretches back to the end of last season. In the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain, he sat out the full 90 minutes and only appeared in extra time.

When he plays, he delivers. That part has never really been in doubt. Even so, Arteta keeps turning to other options in his position. Over time, that hierarchy can weigh on any player, even one as steady as the former Real Sociedad midfielder.

Spain proof, Madrid interest

Real Madrid have been watching closely. They rate Zubimendi highly, and his performances for Spain only reinforce that view.

When Rodri went down with a serious injury, it was Zubimendi who took over the national team’s midfield. He didn’t just fill in; he ran it. The key moments tell the story: the second half of the Euro 2024 final, extra time in the 2026 World Cup final. When the pressure peaked, he held his nerve and kept Spain ticking.

That kind of evidence matters at the Bernabéu.

Arsenal paid 70 million euros to sign him last season and tied him to a contract until 2030. Any negotiation will start from that benchmark. His current market value should sit in a similar range, a fee that would allow Arsenal to recoup their investment.

For Madrid, that figure is significant, but not prohibitive. Not when the alternative is another six months of makeshift solutions in a zone that decides Champions League ties.

A crowded race for a rare profile

Zubimendi will not be short of options. Chelsea are in the race, with Xabi Alonso pushing from the dugout. Alonso wanted him back when he was a candidate for the Real Madrid job, and his admiration has not faded.

Back then, Florentino Pérez chose not to move for Zubimendi. The club went in other directions, trusting the blend of physicality and energy already in the squad.

Now the picture is different. Madrid’s lack of a true controller has been exposed at the highest level. Rodri is out of reach. Zubimendi might not be.

The question is simple, and Madrid can’t dodge it much longer: after paying once for passing on Rodri, can they really afford to hesitate again?