Real Madrid: Top 5 candidates to replace Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu

There’s a very good argument that Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest player in Real Madrid’s history, particularly in modern-day history. In fact, some would argue that CR7 is the best footballer in the history of the beautiful game. But regardless of where you sit on that particular topic, the days of Cristiano firing in goals for fun at the Bernabeu are now over; the Portuguese forward has recently made a big-money move to Juventus.

Following a disappointing 2017/18 La Liga campaign for Real Madrid, this summer is huge for Los Blancos. With Ronaldo now departed for the Serie A winners, Real not only have to try and make up ground on FC Barcelona (who finished last season a whopping 17 points ahead of their longtime adversaries) and city rivals Atletico Madrid, but now they have the daunting prospect of filling Cristiano Ronaldo’s enormous boots.

Here, we’re going to take a look at five potential replacements for the record-breaking Ronaldo at Real Madrid.

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#5 Neymar

Truth be told, this summer’s World Cup has soured a lot of people on Neymar. While many casual viewers were hoping for Brazil to do well in Russia, the embarrassing gamesmanship of Neymar soon had plenty of people turning their back on one of football’s most historically entertaining sides. Still, regardless of his questionable antics and playacting, there’s no doubting that Neymar is an outstanding talent.

He may well have spent several seasons with Real Madrid’s famed rivals, Barcelona, but that doesn’t seem to be much of a factor in stopping a Neymar move to Los Blancos at some point in the future. After only one season with Paris Saint-Germain, the forward is already being linked with a move back to Spain with Real Madrid – and that was before Ronaldo headed for the Bernabeu exit door!

Throughout the World Cup, Madrid released several public statements denying they had made a bid for Neymar, but that did nothing to dispel the speculation that they were indeed interested in the former Santos man. According to other reports, though, president Florentino Perez is desperate to bring Neymar to Real Madrid, even more so with the departure of CR7.

#4 Hirving Lozano

Given the huge, global fame of Cristiano Ronaldo, some may think that a true megastar in the famed “Galactico” mould would be a must when it comes to replacing Ronaldo in the Real Madrid squad. Not necessarily, though.

Hirving Lozano may have impressed for Mexico in the World Cup – in particular in the devastating 1-0 defeat of Germany in which he scored the only goal of the game – but he’s a player who is clearly not on the level of a Ronaldo or Neymar when it comes to name value. That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be a perfect fit for Real Madrid, of course.

Lozano had a stunning 2017/2018 season as PSV Eindhoven romped to the Eredivisie title, bagging 17 league goals from the left wing position. When Cristiano Ronaldo really started to hit the heady heights of stardom, it was as a left winger who liked to cut in and have a strike at goal during his Manchester United days. From there, he went from strength to strength as he became a pivotal part of United’s – and later Real Madrid’s – success.

Ronaldo was 23 years of age when he made the move to Madrid and took his game to the next level. At 22, could Hirving Lozano be a legitimate candidate to do the same? Stranger things have happened.

#3 Paulo Dybala

For the past few seasons, Argentinian Paulo Dybala has been making a huge splash in Italy’s Serie A; initially for Palermo, then for the famed Old Lady of Italian football, Juventus. And now, he could end up swapping places with Cristiano Ronaldo by the time the summer transfer window slams shut.

In his three seasons in Turin, Dybala has won three Serie A championships, nabbing himself an impressive 22 goals in 33 league games in this most recent campaign. So impressive has the 24-year-old Italian been, he’s reportedly been on the radar of Real Madrid since this past March.

Back then, it was believed that Dybala was being lined up as a replacement for Gareth Bale. Now though, it appears as if the hugely talented forward could well be brought in to fill the ominous boots of Ronaldo. Any move for Dybala wouldn’t come cheap, but with his peak years yet to come, he could well prove to be a great purchase for Madrid.

#2 Kylian Mbappe

Really, what is there left to say about Kylian Mbappe at this point? At just 19 years of age, the Frenchman has just become a World Cup winner, putting in starring performance after starring performance throughout the tournament, not to mention being the first teenager to score in a World Cup final since the legendary Pele did so in 1958. Not bad, eh?

For Mbappe, he spent last season on loan at League 1 winners Paris Saint-Germain. That loan deal was with a view to the forward making a permanent switch from Monaco for a whopping €180 million this summer – well, until PSG came under investigation for breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

Right now, it looks as if Mbappe may not end up as a fully-fledged PSG player, after all. And Real Madrid are just one of many huge clubs eagerly waiting to swoop for the teenager.

Mbappe to Real Madrid is a rumor that just won’t go away, and Mbappe’s France teammate Raphael Varane has even gone as far as to say how he’d love to see the youngster join him at the Bernabeu next season.

Kylian Mbappe is the hottest young talent in world football, and so seeing him lining up in the famed all-white of Real Madrid would almost seem like a natural fit by this point in time.

#1 Eden Hazard

Chelsea fans may not like it, but this could finally be the summer that Eden Hazard decides to depart from Stamford Bridge.

Having been the club’s best player for the past several seasons – including helping them to Premier League success in the 2014/2015 and 2016/2017 campaigns – there has been regular interest from Real Madrid. And with a Cristiano Ronaldo-shaped void to fill, it looks as if now might be the right moment for Madrid to amp up their interest in the skillful Belgian.

According to recent reports, Hazard may already have a verbal agreement in place to join Los Blancos this summer, and some of his more recent comments only further point towards his Chelsea exit. It was only towards the closing stages of the World Cup that Hazard stated, “After six wonderful years at Chelsea, it might be time to discover something different.”

If you put that together with the fact that Real Madrid tried to sign the former Lille man last summer, Madrid now have a huge gap to fill in their forward line, and that Hazard has proven himself time and time again to be a true top-tier talent. You can certainly make a solid case for Eden Hazard being the best and the most likely choice to replace Ronaldo at Real Madrid.