Real Madrid's Future After Carvajal: Fortea and Jimenez in Focus

Dani Carvajal will walk out at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday knowing it is the last time he does so in Real Madrid’s white shirt. A decade of tackles, trophies and big‑night defiance is about to close, and with it a chapter in the club’s modern identity.

His departure is not just an emotional farewell. It leaves a very real gap on the pitch and in the dressing room. Carvajal has been more than a right-back; he has been a standard-bearer – experienced, ruthless in competition, and a natural leader in a squad built to win every year.

Real Madrid already have a superstar pencilled in for the role. Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to remain the first-choice right-back, his passing range and attacking quality giving the team a different dimension on that flank. But no elite club survives on one option alone, not across a long season and multiple fronts.

The search for a deputy – or perhaps a long-term challenger – has been complicated. Pedro Porro at Tottenham and Diogo Dalot at Manchester United fit the profile and are admired at Valdebebas, yet the numbers and circumstances around any move are considered unworkable. The market, for once, is not bending to Madrid’s will.

So the club may do what it has often done in its smartest moments: look within.

Fortea: the bold heir

Two names from La Fabrica sit at the front of the conversation – Jesus Fortea and David Jimenez. Both know the badge. Both know the demands. Only one, if any, will make the jump.

Fortea is the headline act. At 19, the right-back is already one of the most talked-about prospects in the academy. Real Madrid rated him so highly that they broke the long-standing non-aggression pact with Atletico Madrid to prise him away from their academy when he was just 15. That alone tells you the level of belief in his ceiling.

He arrived with a label few youngsters can carry comfortably: the “natural heir” to Carvajal. The comparison was immediate, and relentless.

The path since then has not been smooth. Instead of a straight climb to Castilla, Fortea found himself stuck with Real Madrid C, waiting for the promotion that never quite arrived on schedule. When he finally stepped up to Castilla, he struggled at first to impose himself in the position. The promise was there, the execution not always.

But he adapted. He fought for his place, grew in confidence, and became a key figure in the Juvenil A side that went on to lift the UEFA Youth League. On the biggest stage available to him, he delivered.

Fortea stands at 1.75m, quick across the ground and eager to surge forward. His game leans heavily towards attack – overlapping runs, aggressive positioning, a constant willingness to push the line higher. The defensive side still needs polishing. He can be exposed at times, and at senior level those details get punished. Real Madrid know this, and still see him as a major bet for the future.

The club have already shown their faith with a contract running until 2029. That is not a casual commitment. It is a statement that they expect him to matter.

Jimenez: the quiet constant

If Fortea is the bright, attacking spark, David Jimenez is the opposite pole: understated, steady, and relentlessly reliable.

Jimenez joined La Fabrica in 2013 from Mostoles URJC. His idol was Alvaro Arbeloa, a defender defined not by flair but by discipline and competitive edge. It fits. Jimenez has climbed every rung of the academy ladder, step by step, without noise or fanfare, until he earned the captain’s armband at Castilla.

Inside Valdebebas, they talk about him in simple but telling terms: a complete team player, a silent leader. He does the work, sets the tone, and rarely seeks the spotlight.

On 17 December, he finally crossed the line every academy player dreams of, making his first-team debut in the Copa del Rey against Talavera under Xabi Alonso. It was not a ceremonial appearance. He has since played three more times, including a start against Valencia. Each outing reinforced the same image: a defender who rarely makes mistakes, who understands his job and does it.

No one describes him as spectacular. That is not the point. The comparison that surfaces most often is Nacho Fernandez – another academy product who built a career on dependability rather than drama, and who quietly became a club legend.

Jimenez fits that mould. He may never dominate a highlight reel, but coaches trust players like him when the season tightens and errors become fatal.

A choice that shapes the flank

This summer, Real Madrid must decide how to balance present and future on the right side of their defence. Promote Fortea, and they lean into attacking upside and long-term potential, accepting the risk that comes with a still-developing defender. Back Jimenez, and they choose immediate solidity, leadership, and a profile the dressing room already understands.

Or they tear up both scripts and go back to the market, trying again to find an external solution.

Carvajal’s farewell will rightly draw the emotion this weekend. But behind the applause and the tributes, a quieter question hangs over the Bernabeu: who dares – or who is trusted – to step into the corridor he leaves behind?