Real Madrid to beat Barcelona and Manchester City to top transfer target, Chelsea to join Juventus in race for Manchester United superstar and more: Transfer Round-up, November 21 2018

Real Madrid take lead in the race to sign Frenkie De Jong from Ajax

Ajax v Royal Standard de Liege - UEFA Champions League third-round qualifying match

Real Madrid looks to have stolen a march on Barcelona and both the Manchester clubs by edging past them in the race to sign Ajax wonderkid Frenkie De Jong, according to Ok Diario via Express.

De Jong has turned quite a few heads with his performances and as a result, the bigwigs of Europe are all keeping an eye on him. Barcelona want him to be a mainstay in their midfield in the years to come just like Manchester City who have a handful of players who are walking into the twilight of their careers.

Manchester United are also interested in the 21-year-old. But the report states that Real Madrid's representatives were present at the Rotterdam stadium to watch De Jong play in Holland's game against France in the UEFA Nations League.

The report also adds that the club officials have already contacted De Jong's representatives and hence have edged past their high-profile competition to the signing of the wonderkid.

Another report from The Mirror claims that Manchester City have been told that De Jong's price stands at a whopping £75 million. So one thing is clear. Whoever wants to sign De Jong is going to have to break the bank to do it.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

Know More

Edited by Sripad