Zinedine Zidane may once again be influential in Real Madrid’s potential bid of luring a key Barcelona target into joining them.
Real Madrid have had a good couple of weeks, winning four of their last five matches. Zinedine Zidane’s men are competing against Barcelona for the title and in their most recent outing, they got the better of Eibar by a 4-0 score line in the Basque County. Ernesto Valverde also survived on the touchline for another day after a 4-1 win over Celta Vigo.
Karim Benzema was the best performer was the Merengues on their away day and grabbed a brace. Luka Jovic’s exclusion from the squad saw the Frenchman play the whole match. Frankly, Benzema has not been challenged enough by Jovic who has scored just one goal in his Real Madrid career until this point. In spite of not having much playing time, it looks like Florentino Perez has already started to look for alternatives.
Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez, who was also on Barcelona’s radar and a personally requested signing by Lionel Messi is now being targeted by Los Blancos, as per Diario GOL. The Argentina international has had a blockbuster season so far with Antonio Conte and is a promising forward who will certainly succeed with Barca or Madrid should he join.
According to the report, Lautaro Martinez is no more keen on joining Barcelona and has asked his agent to try and sanction a move to Real Madrid in the upcoming months. The news comes as a big takeback for the Catalans and especially Lionel Messi who had reportedly even spoken to the player in person and convinced him to join the Camp Nou. Should this be true, Barca will need to change their plans of replacing Luis Suarez.
Whether Real Madrid are actually interested in Lautaro Martinez remains to be seen, but it is extremely hard to believe that the club has given up on Luka Jovic. As the season approaches its business end, Jovic will be extremely important for the club switching positions with Benzema, so if he can prove himself then Barca will be able to sign Lautaro.