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After sailing through last season with arguably the most complete squad (not first XI) in European football, Real Madrid’s start to the defence of its La Liga crown has been bumpy, to say the least.
Los Merengues have only won one of their four home matches in La Liga. This is in spite of the fact that they are yet to face any of the other four teams from last season’s top five.
The inability to put away chances has been an issue with Karim Benzema before his injury. He was guilty of missing several scoring chances in these games, especially in the home draws against Valencia CF & Levante.
Young Borja Mayoral is the only other out-and-out striker at the club and Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to hit his usual scoring best. The sale of Alvaro Morata means the club no longer have a reliable goal scorer coming off the bench, an asset that proved invaluable last season.
The decision to drop the bid for Kylian Mbappe due to his excessive wage demands means that Zinedine Zidane & club president Florentino Perez will be hunting for another number 9 in the January window.
And here are 5 players that the Blancos should target in the January transfer window...
#5 Domenico Berardi (US SASSUOLO & ITALY)
The world is still awaiting the manifestation of Berardi’s promise since he broke into the Serie A with lowly Sassuolo in the 2012-2013 season.
A big part of why Sassuolo have managed to maintain their top-flight status since they gained promotion, Berardi has a very good record of scoring goals with 55 goals in 153 appearances in less than 5 years.
His goals also helped I Neroverdi (The Black and Greens) make a historic Europa League appearance in 2016 after finishing sixth in Serie A.
A left-footed forward who can play anywhere across the front three, his favoured position is on the right where he can cut in and shoot. He is known for his positioning, tactical intelligence, assassin-level decision making as well as his work off the ball.
After five years with the team (he was signed permanently at the beginning of the season following the buyout of the co-ownership deal with Juventus), Berardi is ripe for a move to the top echelon of world football.
He could prove to be a great asset as his ability to play across the frontline means that he won’t be directly competing with the main man, Cristiano Ronaldo, for a spot.
The presence of Gareth Bale & Marco Asensio will mean that his favoured right-side attacking position is already crowded, but he is good enough to stake a claim for the number 9 position in competition with the misfiring Benzema.
He will represent an attractive low-priced option for Zidane as his transfer fee is not expected to exceed £40 million.
#4 Marcus Rashford (MANCHESTER UNITED & ENGLAND)
The new golden boy of English football, Marcus Rashford has been rumoured to be a left-field target for the European champions.
Blessed with searing pace, good dribbling ability, a knack for being in the right place at the right time and an admirable work ethic, Marcus has all the talent needed to excel as a player.
The Wythenshawe-born 19-year-old has been consistently deployed by Jose Mourinho on the wings ever since the Portuguese turned up at Old Trafford. While the lad has put up some good displays, there is still an eery feeling that his best position is the one currently occupied by Romelu Lukaku.
While his statistics of 12 goals in 50 games for Manchester United may not look like much, the number of times he has come off the bench shows that he is a player that can be expected to do great things if he gets a decent run of games in his preferred position.
While a deal looks unlikely given the frosty relationship between Manchester United & Real Madrid, Rashford will certainly be tempted to the idea of learning his craft alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and in a team where the coach has shown a penchant for giving playing time to younger players.
Any transfer would probably be approaching Kylian Mbappe-level figures, but given Mourinho’s very public courtship of Gareth Bale, Florentino Perez will be confident of getting a good swap deal.
#3 Kasper Dolberg (AFC AJAX & DENMARK)
The baby-faced goal machine really came to the attention of the footballing world in the 2016-2017 season as his 6 goals helped propel Ajax all the way to the final in last season’s Europa League, only to be beaten by Manchester United.
The 19-year-old native of Silkeborg really shone for the Dutch side last season and was on the radar of top clubs in Europe. AS Monaco were said to have scouted him as a possible replacement for PSG-bound Kylian Mappe, though nothing eventually came out of the rumour.
A striker in the mould of Robert Lewandowski, Kasper is not the quickest player in the world, but his lack of blazing pace is more than made up for by his sense of positioning, predatory finishing, ability to assist others and a good sense of responsibility.
His age and ceiling for improvement mean that he will fit in with Real Madrid’s recent policy of buying young, exciting stars rather than the galacticos-driven spending of previous years.
It is doubtful for how long Ajax will be able to keep hold of this talent as the signs are that he is outgrowing the environment at Ajax - and Eredivisie in general - and will need to leave if he is to further his development and fulfil his enormous potential.
#2 Andrea Belotti (AC TORINO & ITALY)
The most experienced player on the list, Andrea Belotti will certainly expect to be in contention for a starting position if he joins Real Madrid.
Nicknamed Il Gallo (The Rooster) due to his antics whenever he scores, Belotti is being seen as the present & future of the Italian national team; Gli Azzurri (The Blues). This feeling will only be greater if he leads the line for the Galacticos. .
A prolific goalscorer, he is capable of scoring with both feet. He is also very fast, a hard worker and possesses a natural poacher’s instinct for knowing where the goal is.
He was the centre of attention in the summer transfer window as serious inquiries were reportedly made by Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan and the likes, but nothing concrete came from them.
A move for Belotti would definitely cost Real Madrid in the £100 million region and it is doubtful whether the Italian frontman will accept playing second fiddle to Karim Benzema, though he may be amenable to moving to the wings seeing as he started his career as a winger.
Belotti’s statistics for club and country are truly exceptional which has led to coach Sinisa Mijhalovic naming him captain. He has scored 41 goals in 75 appearances for Il Toro (The Bull) and has found the net 4 times in his first 11 games for Italy.
#1 Timo Werner (RB LEIPZIG & GERMANY)
The prime target from all indications, Werner’s career since he joined Die Roten Bullen from VfB Stuttgart in 2016 has been on an upward trajectory.
The 21-year-old German international has quickly established himself as a deadly striker with 21 goals in RB Leipzig’s debut season, which helped them secure Champions League football in their very first attempt.
His strengths include predatory finishing, ability to hold up the ball and bringing others into play, coupled with a keen understanding of the game.
Timo’s performances at club level has led to call-ups to Die Mannschaft where, as the arrowhead of a group of young and not-fully-established players, the team rose above all expectations and won the Confederations Cup in Russia. He scored three and assisted two goals which made him win the tournament’s Golden Boot.
A shy, unassuming presence off the pitch, he has certainly staked a huge claim to the No. 9 jersey for Germany and is the bookies’ favourite to step into the Miroslav Klose-shaped hole that the team has been struggling to fill.
RB Leipzig will not lose their prize asset easily and Real Madrid should note the club’s intransigence in dealing with Liverpool over Naby Keita before the Reds triggered his buy-out clause to sign him in the next summer window.
Florentino Perez should expect a rough time from acclaimed sporting director, Ralf Ragnick, and any bid for the player, who has already scored 6 goals this season (5 in the league & 1 in the UCL), may likely start at the £70 million mark.
