Real Madrid aims to strengthen the midfield

One of the main objectives that Real Madrid has set for future transfer windows is to reinforce the midfield. Last summer, the team tried to sign a new midfielder, but negotiations with different candidates did not succeed.

Currently, Frenchman Paul Pogba remains Zinedine Zidane's biggest desire. In fact, the club has not taken the final step to sign any of the other players they are considering because their coach prefers to wait and explore even the slightest possibility of recruiting the Manchester United player. As explained by the newspaper Marca, if Zizou remains in charge, the team will make another attempt to sign Pogba; otherwise, they will pursue other negotiations since Pogba is not the midfielder that the board finds most appealing.

Among the alternatives considered by the club are two classic rumors, Danish player Christian Eriksen (Tottenham) and Dutch player Donny van de Beek (Ajax Amsterdam). The signing of the first is very interesting because his contract expires in June 2020, so he could arrive at Santiago Bernabeu next summer without any cost or for a low fee (around €25M) in the winter transfer window. The second would be a bit more expensive (between €55M and €60M), but still affordable for January.

The quintet would be completed by two players who are in great progression: the Norwegian Martin Ødegaard and the Spanish Fabián Ruiz. The Norwegian is taking advantage of his loan at Real Sociedad to prove himself, and in Madrid they are not ruling out bringing him back before the agreed two-year loan period with the Basque team. The Andalusian, on the other hand, has become one of the key players for Napoli and the Spanish national team, which is why Real Madrid has decided to closely monitor him in order to evaluate if it is worth pursuing the necessary and complicated conversations with his club next summer. "At the moment, the player does not have a release clause, and negotiating with Napoli's president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, would be tortuous and almost impossible," explains the newspaper.