Real Madrid News
Chelsea eyeing cut-price summer move for Real Madrid youngster, could cost £5-10 million
According to the latest reports from The Telegraph, Chelsea have set their sights on a summer swoop for Real Madrid youngster Rafa Marin as part of their new strategy to recruit top young talents under the club’s new owners.
Marin joined the Real Madrid youth setup from Sevilla in 2016 and has steadily grown into one of the most highly-rated young players at the club.
The 20-year-old has been a regular fixture in Raul Gonzalez’s Castilla outfit over the past eighteen months or so, racking 45 appearances in which he has three goals, two of which have come this term.
The young central defender has been part of Carlo Ancelotti’s matchday squad at times but is yet to make his first-team debut. Given the plethora of options at the Italian’s disposal, Marin’s pathway into the Real Madrid senior team is not easy.
It must be noted that as per Transfermarkt’s data, Marin’s contract with Los Blancos expires at the end of the season. However, the report states that his deal still has 18 months left on his deal and runs out in 2024.
And Chelsea are aiming to capitalise on the Spaniard’s situation by swooping in for him in the summer transfer window. The Blues have scouted the 20-year-old extensively and are seemingly prepared to act on their interest later this year.
Considering that he will be in the final year of his contract with Real Madrid at that time, the Blues believe they can land him in a cut-price deal, with the report stating that Marin could be available for as little as £5-10 million.
Real Madrid, for their part, are planning to hold contract talks with Marin. There seems to be some conflicting claim regarding the duration of his contract and it remains to be seen how the situation develops. What is clear is that Chelsea have the young defender on their radar and plan to move for him in the summer.
Real Madrid’s main goal heading into the summer transfer window was to wrap up the signing of Jude Bellingham amid massive interest from Premier League giants such as Liverpool, Manchester City, and Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola’s City, especially, were ready to match and increase any salary Madrid offered, and were going strongly into the bidding war.
Eventually, Bellingham decided to join Madrid after they reached an agreement with Borussia Dortmund for €3 million.
However, following this, los blancos had to improvise a fair bit as Karim Benzema decided to leave the club to join Al-Ittihad on a free transfer. They were expecting him to continue for another season, at least, and it stumped their plans in the market.
In the next few weeks, Madrid chased forwards, and ended up signing Joselu, Brahim Diaz, and a certain Arda Guler, who was close to Barcelona before eventually ending up at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Unfortunately for Madrid, he is yet to play a single minute for the club after picking up a serious injury in pre-season. Despite being on the bench for a couple of games, Guler suffered a relapse in training, and was sidelined again.
Now, reports from Yagiz Sabuncuoglu say that the Turkish international is close to returning to team training.
Guler has slowly, but surely, been recovering from his injury, and could take to the pitch for his first minutes with the club in the next few weeks as Madrid look for solutions after a month full of injuries.
With Vinicius Jr, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Eder Militao, and Thibaut Courtois all out until early 2024, Madrid have relied on Castilla for reinforcements, but could do with Guler’s services in their forward line.
That said, Carlo Ancelotti and co. are expected to be extremely cautious when it comes to the Turkish international. The slightest spell of poor man-management here could make or break the youngster’s career.
