Real Madrid Faces Defensive Challenges as Asencio Returns

Real Madrid began the 2026-27 season with three points and a problem.

Jose Mourinho walked into the opener against Espanyol with his central defence stripped bare. Ibrahima Konate and Dean Huijsen formed an improvised pairing, Antonio Rudiger waited on the bench, and alongside him sat Mario Rivas, a La Fabrica centre-back promoted out of necessity. Eder Militao was out. Raul Asencio was out. The margin for error at the back was paper-thin.

Asencio’s situation was already complicated before injury struck. Told he was not part of Mourinho’s plans for the new campaign, the academy graduate had been expected to move on this summer. Then came a setback in training in July, an injury that looked certain to stall any exit and keep him sidelined until September.

That timeline has shifted.

According to Diario AS, Asencio is already back on the pitch and working with Real Madrid again. The plan is for him to rejoin full group sessions later this week. If everything goes smoothly, he should be available for selection for next weekend’s match against Malaga and could find his name on the matchday squad list.

For Mourinho, the timing is useful. Madrid face three matches in eight days, and the coach will not want to push Konate and Rudiger through every one of them as starters, with the risk of another injury hanging over the squad. Asencio’s return gives him another recognised central defender just when the schedule starts to bite.

It also reopens a door that had almost closed.

By getting back earlier than expected, Asencio puts himself in the shop window again in the final days of the transfer window, which shuts on Monday. His recovery removes one obvious obstacle to a move. The defender, though, has made his stance clear: he has no intention of listening to offers and wants to stay and fight for his place.

That resolve might be tested. If the coming days confirm that Mourinho does not see him as a key piece in this Real Madrid squad, the question returns with more force: stay on the fringes at the Bernabeu, or walk away in search of the role he is not being promised in Madrid?