While Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland remain the priority for Real Madrid, they reportedly rate Rafael Leao and Victor Osimhen highly.
Real Madrid are looking to Serie A for their next striker, with Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Milan’s Rafael Leao interesting the Spanish giants.
Osimhen, 23, arrived at Napoli in a club record €70m transfer from Lille in 2020 and has quickly adapted to life in Italy.
Leao, who is the same age, was Osimhene’s teammate at Lille in 2019 before being taken to Milan. He helped Milan to their first Serie A title since 2010-11 last campaign, scoring a career-high 11 league goals and also making an impact this term.
According to Calciomercato, the only thing standing between Madrid and “another nine-figure investment” in one of Serie A’s leading lights is the contract of 31-year-old winger Eden Hazard.
Forbes reports that Hazard earns around €500,000 a week and if Madrid can find a transfer for him in January or at the end of the season, their financial flexibility will be greatly improved.
From January, Leao will have 18 months left on his contract and with numerous reports that negotiations over an extension have made little progress, Milan will eventually have to reckon with the likelihood of a sale.
Osimhen has an extra year on top of that, tying him to Napoli until 2025 and giving the club plenty of leverage in the event of a sale.