Real Madrid were banned from making any signings during the January transfer window, and last summer the club were quiet in the market.
It looks like it’s served Zinedine Zidane well, but Florentino Perez is likely bursting to get his chequebook out and flex those financial muscles.
The Madrid press have been starved of a big chase too, with the last one being the unsuccessful pursuit of David De Gea. Looking around the Real Madrid team, it’s poor Keylor Navas who, perhaps undeservedly, has been picked as the man to replace.
Hugo Lloris has been dragged into the story over the past few days. The claims about the Tottenham man started in the English media and then turned into an absolute mess. Lloris has a mutual appreciation society with Mauricio Pochettino and even if the claims weren’t made up, which they likely are, a Tottenham exit is unlikely.
Lloris to Madrid. So, erm, yeah, that’s turned into an absolute mess already. #THFC #COYS https://t.co/igi9sEE69N
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) February 8, 2017
The prime candidates are of course Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois and Manchester United’s De Gea. There’s some worry in Madrid that a De Gea pursuit may not be so easy, especially after what happened last time, so that leaves Courtois.
Chelsea fans may be skipping on air at the moment but even the most blinkered would accept that Courtois has never really seemed fully in love with the club. That’s not to criticise the Belgian, but he appears to have left a part of his heart in Madrid, perhaps it meets up for coffee with the Madrid part of Diego Costa’s heart.
Despite Chelsea releasing a statement in 2014 stating Courtois had signed a five year contract, taking him to 2019, Mundo Deportivo reckon the goalkeeper’s deal ends in 2018, making him ‘much more economically affordable’.
Whilst it’s easy to believe Courtois would fancy the chance of being Real Madrid’s goalkeeper, this all looks like loose speculation for now, and the Tottenham part is nonsense.
With Courtois on a good contract, Chelsea hold the power, and unless Antonio Conte has his eye on another option, Real Madrid could hit another dead end.
