Real Madrid have responded to Dani Carvajal suffering a season-ending ACL and LCL injury by handing the veteran full-back a new contract beyond the summer.
Carvajal suffered the serious problem, rupturing two ligaments and a tendon in his right knee, during Madrid’s 2-0 La Liga win on Saturday.
His current contract at the Bernabéu was due to expire at the end of this season. But in support of the defender, who has won six Champions League titles in 11 years as first-team players, a new deal has been announced until the summer of 2026.
It will allow Carvajal, who turns 33 in January, the chance to recover and return to fitness, knowing he will still have a job to return to at the end of the process.
Carvajal had shown just days before the injury how important he still is Madridhaving been his best player on the pitch for the Champions League defeat to Lille.
With the injury in stoppage time and Madrid already assured of victory thanks to a two-goal cushion, Carvajal has not been replaced on the pitch. But he threatens to give Carlo Ancelotti a headache going forward, with little depth in the position.
Former winger Lucas Vázquez is now considered a right-back after undergoing a positional transition to extend his use at the club in recent years, although he has only started 28 times. The League matches from the start of the 2022/23 campaign.
David Jiménez, who was promoted from Real Madrid C to Castilla in the summer, is also now likely to become a more regular feature of matchday squads. The 20-year-old has already been named on the bench for the win over Alavés at the end of last month.