Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was very coy in an interview with MARCA on who the European Champions will target to sign this summer.
Having just won the Champions League and pushed Barcelona to the final day in the La Liga, Perez claims he is happy with the composition of the Real Madrid squad for next season.
“It’s very difficult to bring someone,” he told MARCA. “It’s the truth.
“I’ll talk to Zidane. Our obligation is to be much better every year. He will decide if we can get someone better than we have.”
The 69-year-old recognizes how good Paul Pogba is, for example, but says the club have six excellent players in midfield, highlighting Gareth Bale’s influence.
“[Pogba] is a great player, but in midfield we have six great players, so I would not want to discuss speculation, ” Perez continued.
“While he excites me, it is difficult to reach agreements if there are no termination clauses. If a player such as him is available, we may go for him, but would have to reach an agreement.”
[Bale] has had a spectacular end of season, with excellent commitment. In the last league games he was spectacular, without any doubt.
With regard to Davide De Gea, the Real chief maintains it is hard to talk about while Keylor Navas is in such great form for Los Blancos.
“I am not the one who has to decide,” he maintains.
“I would say it is very difficult to manage two great players in that position”.
Finally, on Cristiano Ronaldo, the president wasted no time in laying on the praise for his star man.
“Our dream is that he will retire at Real Madrid,” Perez added.
“He is the best player in the world and fits perfectly into the best club in the world.”
So it sounds like Manchester United fans can breath a little easier as Keylor Navas was brilliant this season and is a fan favorite.
Left unanswered in the MARCA interview was the looming transfer ban facing the club. It will happen and for 12 months Real will not be able to sign players. Which is what makes this transfer window so important as the European Champions will not have another summer transfer window until 2018.
Which means the Isco and James situations have to be sorted out now. As well as any potential replacements for Modric, Ronaldo and Ramos who will all be at least 32 come 2018. Does Perez wait until them to buy their replacements or does he make a move now?
I expect it to be the latter, and that will mean that this will be a huge transfer window for Madrid. One that could see two or even three new Galácticos like Robert Lewandowski arrive at the Santiago Bernabéu. And with the French connection between Pogba and Zidane, I would not be surprised to see the European champions beat their bitter rivals Barcelona to the signature of the French star.
