Real Madrid Transfers: Three underrated forwards to target for summer 2022
Real Madrid are basking in fine form at the moment after two successive important victories over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and Barcelona in La Liga. Carlo Ancelotti and his team have responded well after a poor stretch of games against Villarreal, Sheriff, and Espanyol. The latter two fixtures ended in disappointing defeats for the Whites.
At the moment, Real Madrid are placed second in the league with a game in hand and a win over Osasuna on Wednesday evening would put them two points clear off Real Sociedad who are currently the leaders.
With the winter transfer window slowly approaching, Real Madrid will be looking into the transfer market for recruitment. Whilst it’s unlikely that the club would sign a player in the January window, Los Blancos would certainly start monitoring options for the future, especially young underrated forwards who have immense potential.
In this article, we’ll be looking into three underrated forwards currently in Europe that could possibly be worth monitoring as potential transfer targets in the future.
PATRIK SCHICK- BAYER LEVERKUSEN
Patrik Schick was the talk of the summer after a brilliant individual campaign with the Czech Republic in the Euro 2020. The 25-year-old was undoubtedly the rising star of the tournament, scoring five goals in five games for the Czech Republic and taking them to the quarter-final against Denmark in which he scored in the 2-1 defeat.
Schick was awarded the silver boot for the second-most goals scored (five goals) after finishing below Cristiano Ronaldo who also scored five goals but in four games. The 25-year-old was also awarded the goal of the tournament after scoring from an effort from the halfway line against Scotland.
The 25-year-old has so far had quite the career as he’s played for several clubs including Sampdoria where he made his major breakthrough in European football, AS Roma, RB Leipzig, and Bayer Leverkusen.
At Leipzig, in the 2019-20 season, Schick formed a lethal strike partnership with Timo Werner, scoring 10 goals in 28 games in all competitions while also helping Leipzig finish third in the Bundesliga and securing a semi-final spot in the Champions League.
Coming back to this season with Bayer Leverkusen, Patrik Schick’s red hot form from the Euros has seen him eight goals and two assists in just eight appearances in the German top-flight.
According to the stats on FbRef, Schick has scored eight goals in the league from 30 shots out of which 14 have been on target. Schick averages the most shots and shots on target per 90 for Bayern with an average of 3.85 shots per 90 and 1.79 shots on target per 90.
Apart from his potency in front of goal, Schick is a versatile centre-forward who can also operate a second-striker due to his build-up play and physicality. He can easily draw out defenders and hold them off with his strength while playing behind a striker. His left foot is venomous and he’s equally strong in the air.
Schick is currently nursing an injury after a strong tackle against FC Koln in a match that ended 2-2. He also scored a goal in that game.
The Czech international is expected to return soon and it will be interesting to see how he finishes his season with Bayer Leverkusen after a strong start. He is definitely one of the underrated forwards that Real Madrid must look into as a possible option. He’s on contract with Leverkusen until 2025 so signing him next summer could end up being costly due to the length of his remaining contract with his club.