Real Madrid News
Portugal’s World Cup hat-trick hero can succeed Benzema at Real Madrid, claims ex-coach
Portugal booked their place in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 yesterday, thanks to a stunning 6-1 win over Switzerland. And it was Goncalo Ramos who stole the limelight, grabbing a brilliant hat-trick on his first-ever start for the national team.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos made a huge call before kickoff, as he opted to bench his captain and former Real Madrid superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, in favour of Ramos. And the decision paid off handsomely, with the 21-year-old rising to the occasion.
The SL Benfica ace’s hat-trick meant that he now has more World Cup knockout goals than Ronaldo, despite having played just one such game.
Ramos is a product of Benfica’s youth academy and has grown into a vital player for the first-team setup, bagging 28 goals and ten assists. He has been directly involved in 20 goals in 21 matches in the 2022/23 season for his club and has carried that form to the World Cup.
And, one of Ramos’ former coaches at the Benfica youth team, Joao Fonseca, has claimed that the young Portuguese could be the ideal player to act as the deputy to Karim Benzema at Real Madrid before taking over from the Frenchman.
Talking in an interview with Luca Bendoni for GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Fonseca said: “It is precisely at Real Madrid that I would see Ramos well: for me, he is the perfect deputy for Benzema, with a view to a future passing on of the baton.”
Benzema will be turning 35 in a couple of weeks and has had injury problems of late. So, Real Madrid need to start planning for the future, especially given that they do not have a proper quality centre-forward as backup for the Frenchman currently.
Brazilian prodigy Endrick is set to sign for Los Blancos imminently, although he will not be arriving at the club until 2024 when he turns 18.
With Ramos making the world take notice of his abilities in the game against Switzerland, it will be interesting to see if Real Madrid do explore the possibility of a move for the 21-year-old, who, along with Endrick, could form a long-term centre-forward unit at the club.
According to a recent report from Fabrizio Romano (h/t Madrid Xtra), there is nothing concrete at the moment between Harry Kane and Real Madrid. The two parties have not held any talks and a potential transfer is distant.
Los Blancos’ admiration of the English striker is not a novel development for the Spanish giants have been monitoring his situation for a couple of seasons now.
Tottenham’s high financial demands coupled with Karim Benzema’s breathtaking form kept Kane’s pursuit out of sight, but the situation has now changed.
Real Madrid’s French striker may be the current Ballon d’Or holder but he has struggled to recreate his form this season. His subpar performances and age force the club to look for a new face and Kane is unsurprisingly back in the mix.
The England captain has a contract with Spurs that runs until 2024 and he has not agreed on a new deal with the Premier League side. His dire drought for trophies at the club level could force him to move to greener pastures and there is a long line of suitors awaiting his availability.
Manchester United and Bayern Munich both, like Real Madrid, are in need of a new centre-forward and thus join the Merengues in Kane’s pursuit.
The 29-year-old striker has started 28 Premier League games for Antonio Conte’s side this season, scoring a whopping 21 goals and providing two assists in the process. The fact that his goal tally came off a relatively low xG of 15.6 shows Kane’s effectiveness in front of the goal.
Karim Benzema is likely to renew for another season, but the summer could see the Galacticos go all out for a big-name striker. Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are some of the other names considered, though it is clear that neither of them would arrive cheap.
