Real Madrid, Juventus to compete for excellent young midfielder?
Real Madrid have been linked to center midfielder Houssem Aouar.
Although Real Madrid have plenty of talented midfielders, they still have their eyes on an impact player in the center of the park. Paul Pogba may be too expensive, so Real may be interested in pivoting to young, up-and-coming stars around Europe.
Their previously-arranged 55 million euro deal for Donny van de Beek has now been rendered null by the COVID-19 pandemic, as VDB isn’t worth nearly that much money. But Real should still have interest in VDB and other center midfield prospects.
The best of them might be Houssem Aouar, who joins Rayan Cherki as two incredible young Lyon stars on Florentino Perez’s radar heading into the 2020 summer transfer window.
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Signing Aouar won’t be easy, though. According to a report from Fichajes.net, via Calciomercato.com, Real Madrid will face competition from Juventus for the 21-year-old French midfielder.
The player is reportedly valued at 50 million euros, which is the same amount of money Real paid to Lyon last summer for the best defensive fullback in Europe, Ferland Mendy.
Aouar was tremendous in 2019-2020 for Lyon, scoring one goal with three assists as one of the standout young players in the Champions League group stages.
He helped Lyon advance to the knockout round, averaging a jaw-dropping 4.2 dribbles completed per match, according to WhoScored.com.
He was also fantastic in Ligue 1 with three goals, four assists, 2.6 dribbles per game, and 1.7 fouls drawn per game.
A dynamic, versatile player who can carry the ball into the final third and beat the press, Aouar has an incredible future ahead of him. Juventus have the bigger need for a midfielder, but they seem to be pushing for more defensive players like Jorginho and Arthur Melo or Serie A’s Sandro Tonali.
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Real Madrid could have an edge when it comes to convincing Aouar to sign with a Zinedine Zidane-led club over anyone else. And it’s likely another top club, such as Liverpool or Barcelona, may try to enter the race for Aouar.