Real Madrid refrained from making too many additions to their squad this summer, and instead, most of their focus appeared to be on outgoings. Los Blancos did bring in two top quality players though in the form of Aurelian Tchouameni, from AS Monaco, and Antonio Rudiger, as a free agent after his contract ran out at Chelsea.
The club also brought in Iker Bravo, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, although the 17-year-old Spanish striker is expected to be mostly involved at the Castilla level. Yet, he has been included in Real Madrid’s Champions League squad, which goes on to show their lack of options going forward at the moment.
Bravo might not be the only player that the European champions have had their eyes on recent times though. As reported by SPORT, Real Madrid and Barcelona are monitoring the situation of Russian attacking midfielder, Arsen Zakharyan, who currently plays for Dynamo Moscow. But Chelsea are believed to be leading the two La Liga giants in the race for his signature.
In fact, Chelsea were believed to have agreed a deal to sign Zakharyan this summer but the move failed to go through due to technical reasons, which is not surprising considering the global situation.
Real Madrid and Barcelona battle Chelsea for Zakharyan
Zakharyan is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who has already managed to catch the eye of the biggest clubs in Europe.
According to stats from Transfermarkt, he has scored 13 goals and provided 16 assists in 55 appearances for Dynamo Moscow till now.
Those are exceptional numbers, especially when you consider the fact that he is still just 19 years of age and is expected to get even better moving forward. His numbers at the youth levels are great as well and he has already represented the Russian national team on multiple occasions. It is believed that a transfer fee in the region of €15 million would be enough to sign Zakharyan.