Real Madrid Transfers: 5 attacking players to monitor in 2021

Lyon FW Rayan Cherki

We all know how much Florentino Perez loves to sign young players, and Real Madrid fans are getting a little bit annoyed when the club is linked to a young player with a proven record of production in a major league. It’s not that fans don’t value the future, but it’s just that the club has already signed so many of those kinds of players in Vinicius Junior, Reinier Jesus, Takefusa Kubo, Brahim Diaz, and Rodrygo Goes.

But if Real Madrid do want to make a lower-cost signing and target a “star of the future” type at forward, then Rayan Cherki is the ONLY player who I think is worth their time and money. Nobody else is even worth pursuing besides him.

Cherki is a special player. Lyon does a wonderful job of developing young talents, and Cherki is no exception. He has the skills and technical quality to one day become a world-class player, and he reportedly dreams of joining Los Blancos. Many young players do, especially since they would get the chance to play for Zinedine Zidane.

In Cherki’s case, if he were purchased from Lyon by Real, he would likely have to be immediately loaned. There have been rumors of a possible sign-and-loan-back deal, which is something we have seen, for example, between Arsenal and St. Etienne for center back William Saliba.

The 17-year-old hasn’t featured much for Lyon this season and is still a couple of years away from being a regular contributor, but if Real want to get in the door quickly, they would save some money. It’s up to them if they think Cherki is worth jumping on, but, again, if they want to get involved in signing a U19 star forward, then he is the one guy to look at.