What's the story?
The La Liga leaders Real Madrid and their president Florentino Perez are going for a trio of superstar players to begin a new Galacticos era at the club. According to reports from The Express and various sources, Perez is working hard behind the scenes to land three of Europe’s biggest talents in one summer transfer window. They are looking to complete the transfer of their highly sought after player, Manchester United’s David de Gea first. With Keylor Navas’ future in doubt following bad performances, Zidane wants the Spaniard to replace him. While DiarioGol in Spain suggests that Perez is in the process of making a formal offer to Chelsea for the transfer of Eden Hazard. The Belgian number 10 has regained form this season and has run riot scoring 10 Premier League goals this term. And last by no means the least, the Spanish giants want to sign Paulo Dybala before he pens a new deal with Juventus. However, according to reports in Italy, they could face stumbling blocks as he is more likely to sign a new contract with the Serie A champions.
In case you didn’t know
Perez assembled the last Galacticos team between 2000-2006, bringing in the likes of – David Beckham, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Owen and Claude Makelele. It was a trend that followed later under Ramon Calderon between 2006-08 as well, when Real signed Ruud van Nistelrooy, Fabio Cannavaro and Sergio Ramos, until Perez took over again in 2009 and built the current squad.
The idea was initially called ‘Zidanes y Pavones’, where the club would buy one superstar every year while promoting their best academy graduates to the first team. It was successful initially but later its effect faded away after the club was not able to win major titles despite these big names.
It was primarily due to their defensive players either failing to perform or being sold off, the most famous example being Claude Makelele.
The heart of the matter
Florentino Perez certainly has highly ambitious plans here to establish the Galacticos v3 at Real Madrid. The club are already a dominant force in Europe and Spain, having just won the Champions League last season and have a solid defensive base with Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and the youngsters Rafael Varane, Nacho and Dani Carvajal to build on.
With age slowly catching up to their talisman Ronaldo, and Benzema and Bale nearing their 30s as well, the club needs to think about the future. Long time target De Gea will be a much-needed addition in goal and should the club beef up their attack with the likes of Dybala and Hazard, Real Madrid might become close to unstoppable.
Also Read: 5 reasons why Real Madrid will become the first team to retain the Champions League
What next?
If the Hazard reports are true and Perez is close to reaching an agreement with Chelsea, then it could be the first step in this elaborate plan. However, he could face considerable hurdles in signing David de Gea and more so in the case of Paulo Dybala.
Manchester United and Juventus both do not want to sell their prized assets, so Perez will have to think outside the box to complete the coup.
Sportskeeda’s take
This is as ground-breaking as it gets. If Perez has his way and assembles this team at Real Marid, along with their existing players – Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Casemiro etc, managed by Zinedine Zidane, it’s safe to say that other European clubs can only play catch up in winning the Champions League for a few seasons.
The Real Madrid president has done it before so who is to say he can’t now. New Galacticos anyone? – You read it here first.
