A highly-rated right-back target who probably won’t sign for Real Madrid

I cannot stress on Real Madrid’s need for a right-back enough. Dani Carvajal’s fitness issues have just clouded my judgement of him as a player. I mean, sure, he still is a great player whenever he is fit, but I don’t remember seeing him play for a prolonged period of time without getting injured, and unfortunately, you can be one of the best players in the world but when injuries start hitting you, it’s not long until the club decides to look at a future prospect in your position.

Dani Carvajal isn’t old, either. He is supposed to be in his prime, but somehow, he just keeps getting sidelined. Lucas Vazquez was given a new contract solely to become his backup, after doing the job really well when called upon during the business end of last season.

I had a feeling Vazquez won’t be able to keep it up for very long, and I was right. It sucks, but yeah, I don’t think there’s a single right-back that Real Madrid can rely on week in, week out, for one reason or the other.

That’s why I want Real to get a right-back in the summer. Pedro Porro is obviously a player that has been talked about in reports, but, according to reports from MARCA, Real Madrid are interested in signing Chelsea’s Reece James, either in January or in the summer.

Reece James would be great for Real Madrid, but Chelsea won’t let him go

In a hypothetical situation, if I have a lot of money to spend on signings, and I have an option to pick any right-back from any team, I’d only put Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of Reece James. That’s how good I think he is. I know people talk about English players being over-hyped, and to an extent, I can agree, but Reece James is easily one of the best in his position right now.

We can talk all day about him playing in a wing-back role and not having that many responsibilities defensively. But I think that while he does get coverage from Cesar Azpilicueta, Reece James is still very good defensively. His two-way presence is really important for Chelsea, and he would fit like a glove at Real Madrid. And it’s not like he has never played in a four-man defense. He has, and he was very good.

Reece James is a fantastic crosser of the ball. He reads the game very well and while he does make some mistakes, what he provides is too good to not have.

The sad part is, though, that even if Real Madrid are interested in signing Reece James, that doesn’t mean they will get to sign him. Chelsea rate him very, very highly – probably as much as I do – and I just don’t see them letting the Englishman go. If, in some alternate universe, Chelsea do consider letting him go, it would take a huge, huge transfer fee to attain his services, something that Real Madrid cannot afford to give away at the moment. The club is still recovering from the effect that the pandemic has had on its finances.

I’m not saying Real Madrid don’t have the money to buy Reece James, I’m just saying they wouldn’t spend that much on him because they have players like Erling Haaland to think about. I wouldn’t rule out getting a central midfielder, either, and of course, we already know about the Kylian Mbappe and Antonio Rudiger rumors. Spending, say, 80 million on Reece James is something that just wouldn’t happen, and Real would rather go for someone like Pedro Porro. The club can still prove me wrong, but I just don’t see it happening.

I think Reece James would’ve been the perfect right-back option, and even though the club still loves Dani Carvajal and rates him highly, I don’t think he would’ve been able to keep up with Reece James in the long run. Oh, well.