Real Madrid News
Real Madrid readying €135 million offer to land priority midfield target next summer
According to a sensational claim made by Tomas Gonzalez-Martin El Debate, Borussia Dortmund president Hans-Joachim Watzke has given Real Madrid permission to talk to Jude Bellingham ahead of his possible move to the Spanish capital club.
The report further claims that Watzke shares a great relationship with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and this is the reason why he personally wants his midfielder to join Los Blancos in the first place.
Now, Madrid do understand that signing Bellingham is not going to be a cakewalk mostly because they are not the only team in the chase. Paris Saint-Germain have publicly expressed their interest while the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United are said to be involved too.
So in order to carry out the operation quickly, the Madrid management is ready to offer €100 million in transfer fee plus €20 million in bonuses for Bellingham. Apart from that, somewhere around €15 million have been kept reserved as commission.
Borussia Dortmund are aware of the figures Madrid are offering, but at present, Liverpool and Man City are willing to pay up to €135 million as well so the player’s personal preference now becomes the key.
As for Liverpool, they are also said to be exploring the option of Enzo Fernandez after signing Cody Gakpo from PSV, meaning that it will take a lot of convincing for Jurgen Klopp’s team if they are indeed serious about signing Bellingham.
Real Madrid’s position is very different, to say the least. Everyone is aware of the fact that both Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are in their twilight years, meaning that securing a replacement is important.
For that, Madrid’s proposal to Bellingham is a lucrative six-year deal that can be extended by another twelve months, with an annual salary of €11 million plus bonuses.
As far as the player is concerned, he is believed to have given his preference to a move to Real Madrid. His mentors and assistants have advised him the same and the only thing that remains at the moment is a formal agreement.
In what could be a real deal breaker for Real Madrid ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona, it has been revealed that as many as three Barça will be absent from the game while another key player remains a major doubt.
The list includes the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen. The trio is certain to miss the game through respective injuries while a certain Frenkie de Jong is more or less ruled out, as per Javi Miguel.
It must be remembered that Barcelona are heading into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage. But the absence of the aforementioned players means Madrid can work on exploiting the frailties.
Despite the absence of such big names, Barcelona did pretty well against Elche in their previous outing, coming out 4-0 victorious, with the goals coming from Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres.
With options lacking in midfield, Xavi decided to use the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia along with Gavi in the heart of the lineup. In any way, they do have Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie as backups if needed.
The defence, on the other hand, was perfectly guarded by Jordi Alba, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
One can expect Xavi to once again interchange Araujo with Kounde on the right since the Uruguayan has been rather successful in minimizing the threat of Vinicius Jr.
As far as Madrid are concerned, they are sweating over the fitness of three key defenders, namely, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, and Ferland Mendy. Between these three, the Frenchman is out for about a month while Rudiger and Nacho are expected to be back before the Clasico.
If there are no casualties against Real Valladolid, Madrid will have a perfect midfield and attack, with only Mariano Diaz missing.
