Is he heading to Real Madrid?
DFB star comments on transfer rumors
June 11, 2026 – 9:01 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Real Madrid are said to be interested in DFB defender Nico Schlotterbeck. He doesn’t want to know anything about the rumors at the moment.
William Laing reports from the DFB headquarters in Winston-Salem
The World Cup hasn’t even started yet for the German national team, so Nico Schlotterbeck has to deal with issues for the time after the tournament. On Thursday, the defender was asked about a possible move to Real Madrid at a press conference in the DFB team’s World Cup headquarters in Winston-Salem. But the 26-year-old didn’t give any indication of his plans for after the tournament.
“Yes, of course you get something like that through the media,” said Schlotterbeck. But: “Basically, I said this a few weeks ago: the complete focus is now on the World Cup, is on the first game.”
According to Schlotterbeck, the start of the World Cup is “extremely important”
Spanish media recently reported that Real, led by returning coach José Mourinho, was interested in signing Schlotterbeck. But the left-footed player currently prefers to focus on Germany’s first task at the World Cup. On Sunday the team will face tournament debutants Curacao in Houston (from 7 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online).
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“In Qatar we saw how a first game like that can go. That’s extremely important,” said Schlotterbeck. At the last World Cup in the desert state, Germany lost the opening match 1-2 against Japan and was ultimately eliminated in the preliminary round. When the Asians scored their second goal, Schlotterbeck did not significantly disturb the goalscorer Takuma Asano.
The exit clause is between 50 and 60 million euros
The defensive player, who trained in Freiburg, extended his contract with Borussia Dortmund until 2031 just a few weeks ago. However, the new working paper apparently contains an exit clause for after the World Cup. As the pay TV broadcaster Sky reported in April, this should be between 50 and 60 million euros and apply to certain top international clubs – including Real Madrid.
However, Schlotterbeck doesn’t seem to be interested in that at the moment. The Real rumors were “not in my head at all,” he emphasized. But that could change after the World Cup.