Real Madrid Transfers: Don’t forget about this potential Casemiro successor

Real Madrid’s legendary midfield trio of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Casemiro remains the best in the world, and they have a trio of young standouts behind them in Fede Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, and Antonio Blanco. Though Blanco hasn’t quite had enough opportunities for us to make bold proclamations about his future, Valverde and Camavinga are quite clearly on a trajectory to become among the world’s best in their own right one day.

Despite all of this talent, Los Blancos aren’t sitting quietly. They will pursue midfielders in the 2022 summer transfer window. Paul Pogba is a big name and a magician of a passer who represents a wonderful opportunity for Florentino Perez as a free transfer. And when it comes to more up-and-coming talents, Aurelien Tchouameni is another man with a world-class future ahead of him.

Tchouameni would be the best option to succeed Casemiro one day. He could be a defensive midfielder and is just 21. Stylistically, he is much different from Casemiro, but he is being tracked as an option.

There is another option being floated around a couple of years after rumors first surfaced, and that is Leicester City standout Wilfred Ndidi.

Wilfred Ndidi might be the best purely defensive option

Leicester often produce top players. Wesley Fofana is another on Madrid’s radar. Because Leicester is a notable Premier League club and one of the best-run clubs in Europe, they sell players for a very high price. Therefore, acquiring Ndidi would be difficult for Madrid.

Yet he is a player worth keeping in mind, because the 24-year-old defensive midfielder is the exact kind of profile who can fit if Real want a truly defensive player to one day succeed Casemiro’s role as the anchor.

Ndidi is also fabulous at making interventions. Intelligently cutting out play and frustrating the best of attackers, Ndidi is averaging 3.4 tackles per game and 2.4 interceptions per game in the Premier League this season. He is not much of a threat with the ball at his feet, but he plays smart, keeping his passing safe and accurate.

Real Madrid should probably go for someone with more attacking involvement and even someone a few years younger than Ndidi. Being 24 in the defensive midfield is still very young, but Real seem to be going after players closer to Tchouameni’s age. Casemiro is 29, so he still has, hopefully, at least three more years of top play left in him. Of course, getting someone else in the midfield would prolong his career, specifically someone young like Tchouameni who can be eased into the role as Case’s backup.

Wilfred Ndidi becomes more appealing if Aurelien Tchouameni goes to Chelsea

Ndidi is too good to be a backup and just getting close to his prime. So that must be considered. That said, while he would be expensive, Tchouameni won’t be cheap either. Chelsea seems prepared to go hard after him.

So if Tchouameni is off the table, Ndidi might move to the top of the list in defensive midfield. With nearly six combined tackles and interceptions per game, Ndidi is the kind of player Real want in midfield, since he can relieve so much pressure and give other players attacking freedom. Kroos and, perhaps, Pogba would benefit so much from that.

So don’t forget about Ndidi. There are reasons why he is not necessarily the most realistic option, but he has to be considered an option if Los Blancos are indeed thinking about bringing in another defensive midfielder to help – and eventually take the torch from – Casemiro.