Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has a lot of shiny new toys to beef up his back line, as the Merengues had one of the least talented defenses of any European powerhouse over the last few seasons. Mourinho now has Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, and Marc Cucurella at his disposal, but he is still looking for one more center back to add to the puzzle.
Although Real Madrid were interested in Josko Gvardiol and Riccardo Calafiori from Premier League powerhouses Manchester City and Arsenal, respectively, neither of those English league title contneders were interested in selling their prized assets to the Merengues.
Right now, the top three center back targets for Real appear to be Borussia Dortmund's Nico Schlotterbeck, who is now out of the World Cup with an injury; Inter Milan's dream catch Alessandro Bastoni; and then Ruben Dias of Manchester City.
Real Madrid are loving the Premier League for options
But just as Real Madrid still have an even bigger Man City name than Gvardiol on their wish list, they have also added an even better player from Arsenal than Calafiori to their list of potential defensive transfer targets as well.
According to a report from Rodra P of ESPN Deportes, via Madrid Xtra, Real Madrid have made Arsenal center back and left back hybrid Piero Hincapie, who literally can play any position in any back line in any formation, their fourth main center back transfer target on the shortlist.
Hincapie had a brilliant season for the Premier League winners, even displacing Calafiori at left back. He is maybe not as insanely good of a passer and technician as the Italian international, but he is not far off and is a better athlete, raw ball winning defender, and progressor of the ball when dribbling.
A unique talent with a Bayer Leverkusen pedigree, the Ecuadorian international is already becoming a very important player for Arsenal, perhaps third most important to that back line behind only the world's finest center back duo in Gabriel Magalhaes and long time pipe dream targt William Saliba.
Still only 24 years of age despite being proven at the elite level, Piero Hincapie would be a blockbuster signing for Real Madrid, but if Alessandro Bastoni and Ruben Dias are going to be costly, then Hincapie is going to be even more expensive. Arsenal just bought him from the Bundesliga for over 50 million euros, and they could ask for nearly double that from Real Madrid.
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