How Does the Signing of Lopetegui Influence Real Madrid’s Transfer Mentality?

Fans of Real Madrid all over the world are still trying to grasp the decision of Zidane to leave the team only days after they won the third consecutive Champions League title. Even though it was the only important title in 2018 as Barcelona comfortably won La Liga and Celta Vigo knocked them out from the Cup, the decision of Zinedine Zidane to leave the team came as a shock for most. With little time to recover, Florentino Perez caused a big fuss in Spain by negotiating with the national squad head coach, Lopetegui. In the end, the negotiations led to Lopetegui’s sacking one day before the start of the World Cup. But how does that affect the transfer plans that the Champions of Europe already had?

The Never-Ending De Gea Story

As you may recall, the chase of Real Madrid for the Spanish goalkeeper started three years ago when a fax machine error made it impossible for the deal to take place. For some reason, they’re still obsessed on getting a new keeper even though Keylor Navas did an exceptional job and still proves his awesome form at the World Cup, keeping Brazil goalless for more than 80 minutes. And even though Real Madrid showed interest in Brazil’s and Roma’s keeper, Allisson, it seems that De Gea remains their number one target.
Manchester United are not that willing on letting their world-class goalkeeper slip away, especially since they don’t really have a back-up option. But fans of the Red Devils are a bit restless after De Gea himself declared that although he is happy at Manchester, he ‘wants to win titles, like every other player’. Lopetegui, De Gea’s former coach at Spain’s national team, wants him badly and made his intentions clear towards Florentino Perez.

What About Cristiano Ronaldo?

Every Real Madrid fan remembers the statement that Ronaldo gave right after they won the Champions Cup football trophy in Kiev. Since then, Ronaldo has totally dedicated his attention on the World Cup campaign in Russia and did not release any further statements about his position regarding Real Madrid. However, the signing of Lopetegui might help the Portuguese star to make a decision. Back in 2016, the actual coach of Real Madrid voted for Lionel Messi as the best player in the world. It goes without saying that Ronaldo, who’s convinced that he’s the greatest football player ever – and rightfully so – will not take this lightly. However, will this be enough for him to pack his bags and go to another club in the final years of his career? Everyone will have to wait for the World Cup to end before hearing anything from Ronaldo that declared he is only interested in claiming the only trophy missing from his trophy room: The World Cup title.

Other Possible Targets for Real Madrid this Summer

You might already be aware of the speculations surrounding possible Real Madrid targets for the summer transfer window. Huge names such as Neymar, Hazard or even Kane were rumored as possible Real Madrid players in the next season, however, no big steps were made in any of those directions. Neymar once declared that he would be interested in moving over Real Madrid, however, after PSG paid a record-setting amount for him, it’s unlikely that they will let him go that easily. Hazard has quite a few years at Chelsea and might be interested in moving to a club where he can win titles while Kane said he is very happy with Tottenham and doesn’t consider a move for the moment.

You know how all these transfer rumors go, everything is up for discussion until the papers are signed and the players are officially presented. Even so, some of the rumors are closer to reality than others so stay tuned to see who goes where.