The hole Kroos left in the middle of Real Madrid’s pitch still has not been filled, and Jose Mourinho’s staff believe they have identified the player who can fill it. According to Spanish daily Sport, cited by TNT Sports, Madrid are tracking Bournemouth’s Alex Scott as a January target and a long-term successor to the German.

The 23-year-old is contracted until June 2028. Bournemouth set his asking price at £80m during the summer, and that is the number any serious winter approach will have to clear.

Why Madrid are looking at him

The Spanish reporting, from journalist Miguel Serrano, pins the interest on a specific shortage. Since Kroos left, Madrid have not found a midfielder who can slow the game down from deep and set the tempo for the players around him.

Scott, who has operated this season as a No. 6, a No. 8 and a No. 10, is seen in Madrid as a close stylistic fit: a technician who can carry the ball, break lines with it and sit in a double pivot without being overrun.

Read also: English FA signals action on Manchester City case: ruling has ‘significant implications’

The thread also goes back more than a year. Madrid Universal, citing the same Spanish reporting, says the two clubs reached a verbal understanding during 2025’s Dean Huijsen negotiations that Bournemouth would alert Madrid first if they ever decided to sell Scott.

Why Bournemouth are fighting back

Scott did not move last summer, despite being one of the most-tracked young midfielders in the Premier League. Bournemouth rejected a £64m bid from Chelsea and knocked back approaches from Arsenal and Manchester United, holding firm on the £80m price tag.

The club’s position in public was blunt: Scott was not for sale, and head coach Marco Rose, who took charge for the 2026-27 season, wanted him kept.

Behind the scenes, Bournemouth have been pressing for a contract extension they hope to tie up before the January window opens. Scott has turned down earlier offers to extend, and until he signs, the current deal gives the English club only 18 months of security beyond January, enough leverage to demand a premium fee, but not enough to make the asset untouchable.

Read also: Sir Alex Ferguson reveals terrifying detail from brain haemorrhage ordeal

Mourinho’s call

How hard Madrid push is not yet settled. The reporting places the decision with Mourinho, who must choose whether to accelerate the Scott pursuit in January or make do with the midfielders already in his squad.

A midwinter transfer at £80m would be aggressive even by Madrid’s standards, and it would require Bournemouth to break from a stance they held through three Premier League bids last summer.

The January window opens on 1 January 2027. Bournemouth are still trying to tie up the extension before then; Scott has not signed.

Read also: Wirtz spells out what Klopp told him before the Germany goal