It appears after about a month of rumors, Real Madrid have chosen the final destination for struggling attacking midfield prospect Reinier Jesus.
Real Valladolid were interested in LaLiga, and several other clubs lined up to sign the promising Brazilian, who had joined the Merengues in the winter 2020 transfer window for a hefty 30 million euros from Flamengo.
However, in the end, it appears Real Madrid will be finalizing a loan move for Reinier to Benfica. There were rumors of an option to buy, but the article in MARCA by Jose Felix Diaz states that there will, in fact, be no option to buy for Benfica.
That is for the best, as Reinier could boost his value and be worth more to Real Madrid. If he can play well as a center-forward, there is even discussion of him one day helping the cause in the future when Karim Benzema moves on.
Real Madrid are showing interest in Benfica’s Henrique Araujo
But speaking of Benzema, his name must be invoked again. Though Benfica are outside the top five leagues and seemingly not as ideal of a destination as one within LaLiga, specifically Real Valladolid, this move may be more about maintaining a relationship than anything else.
Because in that same report, JFD brought up the name Henrique Araujo twice. Araujo has been loosely linked to Real Madrid before in this summer transfer window as one of the tertiary young forward options for Los Merengues in the future when they must think about replacing Big Benz. Along with RB Salzburg’s Benjamin Sesko, Araujo is one of the prospects behind Karim Adeyemi, Youssoufoa Moukoko, and Endrick on the list of players being monitored.
So it appears loaning Reinier to Benfica could be a little bit like loaning him to Borussia Dortmund was. A chip for the future acquisition of a striker, getting a little political leg-up.
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That concerns me. While Benfica is a good club, they do not face the strongest competition week-in and week-out, and yet they are strong enough that Reinier’s place is not guaranteed either. This is not as good of a destination for him as Valladolid, clearly, and Madridistas can only hope this loan works out better than his nightmarish two-year spell in Dortmund did.