Real Madrid are reportedly interested in bringing Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic to the Liga BBVA.
Spanish publication Sport have claimed that Real Madrid are looking to add Serbian defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic to the squad. The report states that manager Zinedine Zidane has long requested the club president Florentino Perez to add a defensive midfielder to the squad to provide depth at that position, along with some competition to Brazilian footballer Casemiro. The club has failed to lap up Juventus superstar Paul Pogba with the Frenchman reportedly agreeing to a move to Manchester United in a deal involving a world-record transfer fee.
Los Blancos seem to have turned their attention away from the Euro 2016 star and have started looking at other targets on their list, with Nemanja Matic reportedly on the top of it. Sport claim that Zinedine Zidane likes the skill-set the Serbian brings on the field and has maintained contact with Chelsea over a possible move for the midfielder. Even though new manager Antonio Conte has told the media that Chelsea are not considering the sale of Matic, the hierarchy at Real Madrid are convinced a fee of £34m would be enough to persuade the Blues to let go of the player.
The 27-year-old re-joined Chelsea from Benfica in Jaunary 2014 and has since gone on to play the pivot role en route to the Blues’ Premier League success in the 2014-15 season. The Serbian has been ever-present in the Chelsea starting lineup, making a total of 86 league appearances in the two-and-a-half years with the club.
Real Madrid, though, are not the only ones after the Serbian. Manchester United were reportedly interested in bringing Matic to Old Trafford to reunite him with his former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, and had reportedly offered Italian defender Matteo Darmian in exchange for the midfielder. The Red Devils are now rumoured to be very close to a world-record signing of Juventus superstar Paul Pogba and are most likely to be uninterested in a move for the 27-year-old.
Juventus were also reported to be eyeing a move for Matic to potentially replace Paul Pogba and are likely to retain their interest in the Serbian. Florentino Perez would be looking to seal a deal for Matic as soon as possible, and preferably before the season starts, after the transfer failures of Paul Pogba and Andre Gomes. Matic has three years left on his current contract with Chelsea and the new Blues manager Antonio Conte is trying to influence the 27-year-old to stay. But as far as the reports in the media go, the Serbian is set to leave the Stamford Bridge this summer, especially after the arrival of N’Golo Kante from Leicester, a player with practically the same skill-set.
