Real Madrid have made signing Eden Hazard and David de Gea their top priority this summer, according to reports.
According to Don Balon, Zinedine Zidane has already decided who he wants the club to sign this summer, and Manchester United’s goalkeeper David de Gea and Chelsea’s star midfielder Eden Hazard are his top priorities.
They report that Madrid will look to sell Keylor Navas this summer, and long-term target David de Gea has been singled out as his replacement. Madrid nearly signed De Gea earlier, with a fee of £29m plus Keylor Navas even being agreed between the two clubs.
However, a failure to submit the paperwork in time meant that the deal fell through, and de Gea went on to sign a new contract with the Red Devils. It was reported recently that his new contract – which runs until 2019 – had a £52m release clause but this should not be a problem for Real Madrid should they choose to seriously pursue him once again.
Don Balon also report that should a move for de Gea fail, then Madrid will attempt to sign Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea. This is not the first time the Belgian shot stopper has been linked with Madrid, and it was reported in December that Courtois had already told teammates that he would be moving to the Spanish behemoths in the summer.
It is no secret that Zinedine Zidane is a fan of Eden Hazard, and the Real Madrid manager has previously stated that he believes Hazard is the third-best player in the world behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Hazard is also a huge fan of Zidane and has previously described the legendary Frenchman as the “best ever”. Zidane has previously said that he would love to see Hazard at Real Madrid, but has stopped short of saying that he would actually attempt to sign the Belgian superstar.
However, Don Balon state that Zidane will now attempt to land the skillful midfielder in the summer. They state that Madrid were chasing Julian Draxler but the German did not want to wait until the summer and opted to move to PSG in the winter transfer window instead.
Hazard was reportedly targeted by Madrid in the summer, with the Spanish side apparently willing to send Alvaro Morata the other way in a bid to tempt Chelsea to sell, it would not be a surprise to see them chase the Belgian once again.