President of Real Madrid Florentino Perez in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Mike Hewitt – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Real Madrid are flexing their financial superiority over Barcelona again.
Barcelona and Real Madrid will once again be active customers in the transfer market when the summer’s transfer window opens. The La Liga outlets have been far from their best this season and reinforcements seem to be the only way for the clubs to get back to normal and fulfil the mammoth expectations bestowed upon them.
La Liga and Europe’s seasoned champions are keen on fulfilling mutual interests and one of them is the signing of a central defender. The Blaugrana are looking for a deputy to Gerard Pique, the 13-time European champions are devising a plan to replace Sergio Ramos who is in the final year of his contract and despite being tipped to renew is an aged player.
Juventus central defender Matthijs de Ligt is a primary target for the Catalans and the Whites. De Ligt seems unsettled in Turin and has not been able to replicate the same form that he showed with Ajax Amsterdam and has been touted by many to make the switch to Spain just a year after his 75 million euro transfer across to the Serie A.
Diario GOL has claimed that in such a chase, Los Merengues have an edge over their rivals with super-agent Mino Raiola’s demands once again being lucrative like they always have. The extravagant footballing agent has asked for a sum of 25 million euros from anyone that wishes to land his client whose value has dropped into the 60 million range.
Real Madrid certainly have the financial superiority over Barcelona and would be comfortable paying 60 million euros to the Bianconeri and an agency fee to the Italian, whose demands may or may not be negotiable. As such, Raiola has stated that he intends on bringing one of his players to Madrid soon and ever since, Paul Pogba and Matthijs de Ligt have been spoken in the same word as the Santiago Bernabeu more often than not.
Passively omitting on the former Ajax Amsterdam defender’s services may be a blessing in disguise for Barca. While everything is said and done about his quality and adaptability to the Camp Nou’s style of play, it must be noted that even Merih Demiral has overtaken de Ligt in the Juventus side. Besides, 60 million for a player who doesn’t guarantee settling and performing doesn’t make sense and it’s better to go for Milan Skriniar, a better option all things considered.
Which is your preferred choice to play as a centre-back at the Camp Nou?
