Chelsea have suffered a blow in their attempts to sign David Alaba.
According to reports in Spain, the Austria international has reached an agreement with Real Madrid to join on a free transfer when his contract at Bayern Munich expires at the end of the season.
In addition, Alaba is set to sign a four-year deal with the La Liga giants in the coming weeks as he will get the chance to fulfil his dream of playing for Los Blancos.
This news comes as a blow to Chelsea as well as the likes of Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain who had been linked with a move for the 28-year-old.
The writing has been on the wall regarding Alaba's exit at the Allianz Arena for some time now as Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge revealed last month that the club failed to strike an agreement with him over a new contract.
"Bayern did everything we could to try and reach an agreement," Rummenigge said, as quoted by the Daily Mail. "We had a lot of conversations, but we wanted answers from him by the end of October.
"This didn't happen and I don't know if we'll return to the negotiations.
"What I want to be clear about is that our offer showed exactly how much we value him, but he didn't accept it."
Given Alaba's ability to play as a left-back as well as at centre-back, he would have been a quality addition to the Chelsea squad.
With that said, the Blues have already made plans for the defensive department in the summer transfer window.
Firstly, Chelsea have the option for another 12 months on Thiago Silva’s contract and early indications were that the club would be keen to trigger it.
If they opt against giving the Brazilian another season, it would appear that RB Leipzig's Dayot Upamecano will be one of Marina Granovskaia's main transfer missions this summer.
The Frenchman has been linked with a move to Chelsea in recent weeks, and the Guardian have claimed that he could leave for a cut-price £37.4m at the end of the season.
However, the Blues could face competition from Bayern, Liverpool as well as Manchester United for Upamecano's signature as they look to soften the blow of missing out on Alaba.
