Real Madrid News
Real Madrid overtake Liverpool in race to sign €150 million prodigy – report
Several teams have been interested in signing Jude Bellingham in the summer, with Liverpool, Manchester City, and Real Madrid seemingly leading the race. Chelsea and Manchester United, too, have been on the lookout.
City are usually not one for shelling out an exorbitant amount on one player, and therefore, were in third place in a three-horse race. Liverpool seemed to have been leading the race for a while, but there is a new twist in the saga, as reported by AS.
According to them, Liverpool have dropped out of the race to sign Bellingham, which means Madrid are the favourites to land his signature.
Instead, Pool are expected to focus on two other World Cup standouts in the form of Enzo Fernandez and Sofyan Amrabat. The former is priced at around €120 million, while the latter could go for nearly €40 million himself.
The report also mentions that the Borussia Dortmund midfielder prefers to play for Madrid over a return to England right now.
Dortmund have demanded around €150 million for the 19-year-old’s services, but it seems highly unlikely that Madrid will agree to shell out that amount. Previous reports have stated that Florentino Perez is willing to go as high as €120 million, but not a penny more.
Madrid are especially helped by the fact that their relationship with Dortmund is on excellent terms. Perez and the BVB’s CEO, Hand-Joaquim Watzke, have been friends since 2011, when Los Blancos signed Nuri Sahin.
They have crossed paths a fair few times in the transfer market since that, as well, including Sahin’s return to Dortmund. Or, the loans of Achraf Hakimi and Jesus Renier.
AS also claims that the Yellow and Blacks ‘made it easier’ for Madrid to sign Erling Haaland this summer, but the Spanish outfit eventually decided to pursue Kylian Mbappe, instead.
There is no way back for Eden Hazard at Real Madrid. The Belgian international has not given the management any reason to have faith in his abilities over his past four seasons at the club and is unsurprisingly the most important departure for the Merengues in the summer.
Hazard has one more year on his contract in Madrid. However, it is clear that Carlo Ancelotti does not trust him and that any potential replacement manager in the summer will echo his stance.
According to reports from Mundo Deportivo, Fenerbahce are willing to go all out to sign Hazard this summer. The Turkish side have made the former Chelsea their prime target, yet face a steep task ahead of them.
The 32-year-old is hellbent on seeing out his contract with Los Blancos despite seeing his career sink right before his eyes. It thus becomes complicated for the party to lure away the forward, especially in a competition outside Europe’s top five leagues.
Fenerbahce attempted to sign the winger in the recently concluded winter transfer market. They reached an agreement with Real Madrid but failed to get over the line as they could not convince the player of the move.
The biggest obstacle for the Turkish side will be convincing Hazard to make the move by letting go of his lucrative contract in Madrid. The chances are slim, but not impossible.
Hazard has made just three league appearances and one start for Ancelotti’s side this season in La Liga, a steep fall from last season’s 18 and seven respectively.
His last appearance for the team came back in January when Real Madrid faced Cacereno in the Copa del Rey. In La Liga however, he last played in September 2022 in a 4-1 win over Mallorca.
