Real Madrid show interest in 23-year-old Gremio star

Another young Brazilian attacking player seems to be on Real Madrid president Florentino Perez’s radar.

Real Madrid have made three major signings from Brazil to boost their level of young talent in the squad. First, they picked up Vinicius Junior from Flamengo, and he has become a key rotational piece. Santos’ Rodrygo Goes signed in 2019 and looks like the next Madrid superstar. And although Reinier Jesus is struggling for minutes on loan at Dortmund, the 30 million euro man from Flamengo is very talented.

But it doesn’t sound like Los Blancos are done signing young Brazilian attackers yet. According to a report from Andre Hernan, Real Madrid have entered the sweepstakes to sign Gremio left winger Pepê. Hernan reports that Pepê could cost 20 million euros and that a rep from Madrid recently met with the 23-year-old.

Pepê is Gremio’s leading goal-scorer this season with eight goals in 1,646 minutes (18 starts, 21 total appearances), and he also has four assists to his name to tie fellow star man Alisson for the team lead in assists.

According to WhoScored.com, Pepê is also Gremio’s leader with 2.6 dribbles completed per game, and he is averaging 2.3 fouls drawn per game and 1.4 key passes per game. So he’s finding the back of the net, making noise with the ball at his feet, and creating for teammates. He looks like the total package at Gremio.

Should Real Madrid sign another unproven young player?

Pepê is a few years older than Vini, Renier, or Rodrygo, who were all signed by Florentino Perez from Brazil as teenagers. But, as you’d expect then, Pepê has a more impressive statistical resume than any of those three did before signing.

It’s hard to envision Real Madrid spending 20 million euros on an unproven player who may not be able to start for the club during this economic crisis when they must save every penny. But Pepê is an intriguing player who is still young and, again, highly productive for his team. He could potentially be a piece of the puzzle. Fans may be tired of Perez targeting unproven players, but we cannot be entirely dismissive of someone who has reportedly been on the club’s radar for some time now.

We’ll have to see just how interested Los Blancos truly are, but Pepê is now a name for Madridistas to tuck away as a possible goal-scoring wide forward with intriguing all-around ability. I highly doubt Pepê will be signed by Real, but you never know.