Revealed: Alaba's €115m Real Madrid deal

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 31 Jul 2021 04:47 CDT
• 5 min read

David Alaba is Real Madrid's only big signing of the summer to date, with the former Bayern Munich man arriving on free transfer after his deal at the Allianz Arena expired.

The Austria star was a player Madrid were desperate to secure. They were unable to tie down Sergio Ramos to a new contract and he departed for PSG, while Raphael Varane is bound to sign for Manchester United.

Los Blancos, then, have been deprived of the partnership that has formed the bedrock of their team in recent years.

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Meanwhile, Alaba drew a line under a remarkable career at Bayern this summer when he made the move to Madrid for next to nothing, following the expiration of his contract.

However, revelations in the German press have now shone a light on how much money Alaba’s move to Madrid really did cost the Spanish club. And it certainly wasn’t a small figure.

How much did Madrid pay Alaba to join?

According to leaked documents seen by Der Spiegel, Madrid were forced to offer Alaba a substantial sum of money due to the fact that he didn’t move to the club through a more traditional transfer.

As such, Madrid paid the Austria international no less than €17.7 million as a sign-on fee, with his agent Pini Zahavi earning €5.2m as his commission as part of the deal, while Alaba’s family netted €6.3m as well since the player’s father also acts as one of his representatives.

In total, that means Madrid paid Alaba and his representatives no less than €29.2 million to join the club before they even offered the player his first wage slip.

How much will Alaba earn at Madrid?

The revelations from the German newspaper also revealed that Alaba was set to make a major pay rise after moving to Madrid.

According to Der Spiegel, Alaba’s salary will stand at no less than €19.47 million per year. And while the publication didn’t confirm whether that was pre or post-tax, it still means that Madrid will be paying at least €115 million over the course of the player’s five-year contract in Spain.