Alvaro Arbeloa makes Real Madrid star his top target at Fulham | OneFootball

After finally being confirmed as Fulham manager on Tuesday, former Real Madrid head coach Alvaro Arbeloa has got to work on identifying the players that he wants added to his squad during the ongoing summer transfer window. As expected, he’s looking to his former club for reinforcements, and he’s already identified several targets.

Within hours of Arbeloa being confirmed as the new head coach of Fulham, it was reported that he has set his sights on signing Fran Garcia, Gonzalo Garcia and Franco Mastantuono (loan). The former has since agreed to join Real Betis, but in the case of Gonzalo, the Premier League side are ready to test Real Madrid’s resolve.

For now, the plan has been to keep Gonzalo, but Real Madrid may decide to let him play regular first team football elsewhere – especially if it is under Arbeloa in the Premier League. As per Lyall Thomas of Sky Sports, Fulham have made the 22-year-old their leading striker target for the summer transfer window.

Real Madrid have already considered Gonzalo replacement

Although the plan has been for Gonzalo to remain as one more for the 2026-27 season, Mourinho has already made it clear to club bosses that he would welcome the signing of a target man striker. One would only arrive if the La Fabrica graduate was sold, so given that Fulham are pushing hard for his signature, there is a chance that the Portuguese gets his wish before the end of the summer.

It will be interesting to see whether Gonzalo ends up leaving Real Madrid, but if so, it will be guaranteed that an agreement includes a significant sell-on and/or a buy-back clause. Los Blancos officials will not want to lose control over the young striker, given that he has shown plenty of promise since breaking into the first team 12 months ago.