Spain’s El Confidencial, pretty good on Real Madrid transfer news over the years, report that the club have got themselves into a pickle over a new midfielder.
Zinedine Zidane wants to make the addition to his club this summer, but targets are slipping away. First choice was Paul Pogba, but El Confidencial explain he’s been well priced out of the market for Real Madrid.
Then it was N’Golo Kante, but Real Madrid thought he was overpriced too, and saw him go to Chelsea. Now that’s not looking like the wisest of moves.
Marco Verratti has renewed with PSG, killing that dream dead, and Madrid need to buy someone or risk failing a pretty reasonable request from Zidane.
That leads them to Moussa Sissoko, and if they thought N’Golo Kante was overpriced then Sissoko is proving to be a nightmare.
Real Madrid are keen, and Newcastle United will sell… but only on their terms.
In Spain it would be unthinkable for a relegated club to even turn down a €20m or €30m offer for a player, but Newcastle’s huge relative financial strength means they’ve kept some power.
The Championship club are said to want around €40m, and are sticking to that, not prepared to negotiate.
