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What's the rumour?
Real Madrid aim to persist with their revamped transfer policy of investing in young talents rather than big money "Galacticos". They have now set their sights on 21-year-old Fluminense starlet, Pedro and are looking to land the striker in January, according to AS.
In case you didn't know...
Real are yet to sign a marquee superstar since spending €80m on James Rodriguez in the summer of 2014. Instead, the reigning European champions have turned to young players like Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
Pedro, who has scored 12 goals in 23 appearances for the Rio de Janeiro club so far this season, is latest on their radar.
The heart of the matter
By virtue of his impressive performances this season, Pedro got a call-up to Brazil’s national team for the friendlies against the United States and El Salvador, but an untimely knee injury ruled him out for a month.
He penned a new contract at Fluminense recently with his release clause set at €50 million. However, AS believe the Rio de Janeiro club could accept a bid somewhere around €20-25 million for the player.
But still, as with any hot prospect, there would be competition for his services as several big clubs namely Sevilla, AS Roma and AC Milan are already said to have made inquiries.
Rumour rating: 5/10
January is still a long time to go and a lot of factors might come in to play over this period. Therefore it would be prudent to not outrightly believe this story. We're going with a 50-50 for this one.
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What's next?
Should the move come through, it will be interesting to see whether the Spanish giants add him to the first team squad immediately or send the player out on loan that will allow him some time to adapt to European football.
