Real Madrid unwilling to pay €100 million for Premier League defensive duo | OneFootball

Defensive recruitments have never been needed more desperately at Real Madrid than they are needed this summer and the board already have their sights set on several high profile targets.

The arrival of Trent Alexander-Arnold is the first big boost Los Blancos will have in their defense next season, and a new center-back will be the perfect cherry on the cake. The only issue, however, is the inflated rates of center-backs in the transfer market.

The Merengues are slowly advancing towards Dean Huijsen whose release clause is considered affordable, but that does not go to say that they do not have eyes on other targets.

No heavy spending on reinforcements

William Saliba and Ibrahima Konate have been in Real Madrid’s wishlist for a while now and are both players who are at the top of their game and seen as stylistic fits for the team’s project.

As relayed by MARCA in a recent update, however, Real Madrid are not willing to pay €100 million for a centre-back at this point in time even for stars like Konate and Saliba.

Ibrahima Konate on Real Madrid’s radar. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Instead, Los Blancos prefer to wait for such established players to run their contract down and join on a free transfer as has been the case with most star signings in recent months.

With more and more players willing to take the drastic step and run down their contracts in recent times, Real Madrid have enjoyed great success with their manoeuvres with Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba all joining in similar fashion.

The most recent of them is Alexander-Arnold who has officially announced that he will leave Liverpool, although his move to Real Madrid has not been officially announced yet.

Saliba and Konate, thus, appear distant from the Spanish capital as it stands. Their current contracts until 2027 and 2026, moreover, make a move even next year improbable.