Real Madrid Transfers: 5 young center backs worth targeting

Inter Milan CB Alessandro Bastoni

Inter Milan teammate Milan Skriniar is absolute class and certainly impressed head-to-head against Real Madrid in this year’s Champions League, but if you take into account age and his ability to play on the left as a left-footed center back, Alessandro Bastoni may be the better long-term option for Los Blancos to purchase.

Surely, Inter wouldn’t want to sell Bastoni at any price, but as we saw with Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi in the 2021 summer transfer window, the Nerazzurri can be forced into making certain financial decisions. It is hard seeing Bastoni staying with Inter forever.

Bastoni was solid last season and has improved his game further in 2021/22. The 23-year-old Italian joins others on this list with four goal contributions in his league thus far, split between one goal and three assists.

His pass completion percentage is actually more than a percent better than Jules Kounde’s, nearly hitting the 90 mark. Bastoni adds that with 1.5 tackles per game and 1.3 interceptions per game.

In all honesty, both Nico Schlotterbeck and Kounde look like better defenders and investments, but Bastoni’s ball-playing ability is far too good to ignore. He could help take Real’s build-up play to another level, especially as he matures. You get the feeling that Bastoni has only scratched the surface of how good he can be. Bastoni can be a world-class blend of old-school defending and new-school skill at center back.