Real Madrid News
Real Madrid want Modric to mentor €140 million-rated midfield target next season
Luka Modric’s commitment to the Real Madrid badge is unmatched and it might be decades before the club sees a more loyal and passionate player. As the player edges towards 38 however, the club’s desire to look for a younger replacement is not unjustified.
Jude Bellingham is the candidate best placed to take over the midfield reins from Modric. The English International had a phenomenal World Cup campaign for the Three Lions and Los Blancos are prepared to shell out over €100 million for his transfer.
According to reports from Rodrigo Faez, Real Madrid see Modric as a mentor for Bellingham at the club next season as they prepare for the Croat’s impending retirement. Needless to say, the veteran star is well aware of his situation and will be pleased to take over the role of a mentor-cum-player.
January will be a very critical month in terms of the Bellingham deal. Real Madrid plan to contact Borussia Dortmund soon and are very confident that they can pull off the heist.
Dortmund, for their part, are set to hold showdown talks with Bellingham this week to learn his intentions about his future. On top of that, it is said that the Black and Yellows will demand a sum of €140 million for the 19-year-old.
The Englishman will join forces with Aurelien Tchouameni, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga to form what could be Europe’s strongest young midfield. He will take the attacking midfield role, looking to not only dictate the play behind the striker but also directly threaten on goal.
Modric’s contract with the club ends this summer but he is expected to extend for a further season. And having him mentor Bellingham, should the Englishman complete a move to the Bernabeu, would be extremely beneficial for the youngster as well as Real Madrid.
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.
