Real Madrid News
Real Madrid defender apprehensive about contract renewal amid interest from England, Italy
Nacho Fernandez has always had a love affair with Real Madrid. Despite not being the headline player for Los Blancos, the defender has always given his all for the team and has never complained about his role in the side.
At the age of 32, the Spaniard has featured in almost 300 matches for Real Madrid. And with his current deal at Santiago Bernabeu expiring at the end of the season, the club are keen on renewing his contract for one more year.
However, things have changed lately, as far as Nacho is concerned. Although the defender has never historically complained about his status in the team, the summer arrival of Antonio Rudiger, to an extent, has left him on the sidelines a bit too much than usual.
To put things into perspective, Nacho has earned only one start in La Liga so far and has fallen behind Rudiger, Eder Militao and David Alaba in the pecking order, thus leaving him frustrated.
As such, Nacho has shown no desire to extend his contract at Real Madrid so far and could be considering a move elsewhere, reports SPORT.
The player has been a subject of interest for many clubs across Europe, with Aston Villa manager Unai Emery, in particular, being a huge admirer of the defender.
Emery had tried to sign Nacho during his time at Villarreal, and he may do the same having returned to England recently.
Emery is not the only party interested in Nacho, though, with the 32-year-old also being targeted by Italian giants AS Roma and AC Milan. Portuguese club SL Benfica are also monitoring the veteran.
With time running out, this is the time for Real Madrid to convince Nacho by giving him a greater role in the first-team setup if they are to keep hold of the veteran.
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.
