Captain Dani Carvajal will leave Real Madrid at the end of this season, the club confirmed on Monday.
Right-back Carvajal, 34, is a Madrid youth product and one of the most successful players in the club’s history, winning 27 trophies including a joint-record six Champions Leagues.
The Spain international has struggled with injuries in recent seasons, suffering a cruciate ligament tear in October 2024 and then another serious knee injury a year later, limiting his involvement during the current campaign.
“Real Madrid and our captain Dani Carvajal have agreed to bring an end to a wonderful chapter as a player of our club at the conclusion of the current season,” the club said in a statement on Monday.
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“Real Madrid wishes to express its gratitude and affection to one of the greatest legends of our club and world football. Carvajal is one of the five players in football history to have won 6 European Cups and has been part of a team that has experienced one of the brightest periods in our history.
“Real Madrid wishes Dani Carvajal and his family all the best in this new chapter of his life. “The Santiago Bernabéu stadium will pay tribute to him this Saturday, during the final LaLiga match our team will play.”
Madrid signed Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool last summer as Carvajal’s successor at right-back, and competition for places, combined with injuries, have limited the Spain international to just 892 minutes in LaLiga this season.
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Coach Álvaro Arbeloa denied reports of a rift with Carvajal last month, citing “sporting reasons” for the player’s lack of game time.
“[Carvajal] might be the most important academy product in the history of the club,” Arbeloa said.
As a boy, Carvajal took part in the ceremony to lay the first stone at Madrid’s Valdebebas training ground, alongside club legend Alfredo di Stéfano.
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After coming through Madrid’s academy he spent a season at Bayer Leverkusen before returning in 2013, and quickly becoming a first-team regular.
His 27 trophies — one fewer than Madrid’s record holder, Luka Modric — include six European Cups, six Club World Cups, five UEFA Super Cups, four LaLiga titles, four Spanish Supercopas and two Copas del Rey.
Carvajal was also part of the Spain team that won the 2023 UEFA Nations League and Euro 2024.
