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Real Madrid won’t restrict itself to signing either Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe or Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland this summer; it wants both.
ESPN FC’s Mark Ogden reported the Spanish giant is plotting moves for the pair “in an attempt to take advantage of the financial problems at Barcelona by landing the two most sought-after players in world football.”
Ogden noted the contracts of Gareth Bale, Isco, Luka Modric and Marcelo are due to expire, which will free up significant space on Madrid’s wage bill.
The club failed in its pursuit of Mbappe last summer, with PSG turning down a €200 million bid. The French forward will be a free agent after this season, at which point Real Madrid or anybody else can sign him without paying a transfer fee.
The 23-year-old reiterated his desire to remain in the French capital to finish out the current campaign,
Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano
Kylian Mbappé announces to <a href=”https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@cnn</a>: “No, I’m not joining Real Madrid in January. In January it’s not happening”. ???????????? <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PSG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#PSG</a><br><br>“I’m in Paris Saint-Germain, I’m really happy and I will 100% finish the season as PSG player. I’ll give everything to win with Paris all titles this year”. <a href=”https://t.co/3tFUHUr8a1″>pic.twitter.com/3tFUHUr8a1</a>
PSG sporting director Leonardo remains optimistic Mbappe will sign a new deal, but that would seemingly require him to make quite the reversal.
Although Haaland is under contract with Dortmund for 2022-23, an exit from Germany could be similarly straightforward thanks to a reported €75 million ($87 million) release fee. Ogden reported in October a transfer is nonetheless going to be expensive because the Norway international will look to earn at least £30 million ($41 million) annually on top of a payment to his representatives.
According to Ogden, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are both contenders to sign Haaland, with the latter looking at the 21-year-old as a potential replacement for Mbappe. Still, Ogden described Real Madrid as the “leading contenders.”
On two occasions, Florentino Perez has ushered in an era of Galacticos at the Santiago Bernabeu. The club signed Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis Figo and David Beckham in the early 2000s and then brought in Kaka, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
Now, a third class of Galacticos could be incoming.
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