Pushed to one side by Santiago Solari at Real Madrid, Isco’s future appears to be far away from the Santiago Bernabeu.
The attacking midfielder has three years left on his contract, so any purchase would be an expensive one regardless of his situation, and clubs know that.
According to RAI Sport in Italy, relayed by Calciomercato, Juventus, who are interested, are also aware they face some tough competition from the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.
The latter of the two is nothing new, as every single transfer window sees Pep Guardiola, reportedly a big fan of the Real Madrid playmaker, linked with a move for Isco, and January was no different.
Chelsea, on the other hand, are a more sporadic inclusion, and Maurizio Sarri’s use of a 4-3-3 does raise a few questions about where the 26-year-old would play.
With Jorginho sitting in front of the defence and N’Golo Kanté as a more box to box role, his use on the right-hand side of a midfield three, where Ross Barkley featured against Huddersfield, seems the likeliest option, as he isn’t a direct replacement for Eden Hazard down the left.
He has played there for Real Madrid, but their approach differs to Sarri’s, who relied on Lorenzo Insigne (far more like the Belgian) a lot at Napoli.
You could certainly see him work far better in Pep Guardiola’s style, with David Silva now 33 years of age and entering the last year of his contract at the end of the season.
According to a report from AS, who piggyback on Rai Sport’s on Sunday, Isco’s entourage is ‘listening to all the offers’ that are landing in front of him, but it’s Real Madrid that will need to be convinced.
The La Liga side will want somewhere around €80m for their playmaker, which is a lot of money for a player who has only played 49 minutes of league football since January 3rd.
