Real Madrid News
Real Madrid winger still on Barcelona’s radar as contract nears expiry
Marco Asensio’s Real Madrid future continues to be up in the air as his contract closes in on expiry. Indeed, the 26-year-old’s current deal with Los Blancos stands to run down at the end of the ongoing campaign and a renewal is not yet agreed upon.
In the initial parts of the campaign, it almost looked certain that Real Madrid will let the winger leave as a free agent, as wage demands had led to contract talks falling through.
But, the former RCD Mallorca ace regained prominence within Carlo Ancelotti’s plans during the period just before the World Cup break, leading to speculations that Real Madrid will look to hand him a new deal and prolong his stay at the Santiago Bernabeu.
However, with a resolution yet to be reached, Asensio’s future is still up in the air and according to Diari ARA, Barcelona have not lost sight of the 26-year-old and could target him as a possible replacement for Ousmane Dembele.
The Frenchman will enter the final year of his contract at Camp Nou next summer when his €50 million release clause also becomes active. While the Blaugrana want to retain him, they are keeping possible replacements ready with Asensio on their radar.
The Real Madrid winger has previously flirted with a possible move to Barça with his comments in the media, although he later backtracked on those.
The fact that his agent, Jorge Mendes, has close ties with Barcelona president Joan Laporta serves to fuel the speculations further as well.
It, however, remains to be seen whether there is any serious interest from the Catalans in acquiring the Real Madrid ace. Also, whether they can afford his wages, given their Financial Fair Play situation, also remains a big question.
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.
