REAL MADRID’S Paul Pogba pursuit is OFF after club president Florentino Perez reportedly told his first-team stars that there will be no new signings this summer.
Zinedine Zidane’s men successfully wrestled their league title back from Barcelona this season, but disappointed in the Champions League.
Paul Pogba will NOT be joining Real Madrid this summerCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Zinedine Zidane will not be able to recruit new players this summerCredit: AP:Associated Press
The Frenchman tasted knockout defeat in the competition for the first time as a manager when Manchester City beat his team 4-2 on aggregate in the round of 16.
Rather than continuing to rebuild, however, Zidane will have to to work with what he has.
According to Marca, Real Madrid general manager Jose Angel Sanchez gathered the first-team squad following their defeat at the Etihad, in order to inform them of the club’s summer plans.
Sanchez revealed that owing to Covid-19-related financial issues, there will be no new signings through the door this summer.
This effectively brings an end to any talk of signing the likes of Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe or Eduardo Camavinga this summer.
The GM also praised the players for their efforts this season, while informing them that they would not be making Alphone Areola’s loan move from Paris Saint-Germain permanent.
Any fresh blood in Zidane’s side next season will have to come from players returning from various loan spells.
This could open the door to the likes of Dani Ceballos following his impressive form at Arsenal, in a blow to the Gunners’ hopes of signing him permanently.
Real Sociedad will also suffer, with the impressive Martin Odegaard, still only 21-years-old, having been recalled one season into his two-year loan spell at Anoeta.
Ceballos could be given an opportunity to add to his 56 Real Madrid appearancesCredit: Getty – Contributor
Replacing Areola as back-up stopper could be the returning Andriy Lunin, with the Ukrainian having starred for Oviedo.
Alvaro Odriozola could play a part after his uneventful loan spell at Bayern Munich, although fellow full-back Sergio Reguilon could be on his way to Chelsea.
One highly-rated Madrid youngster that will NOT be involved next season, however, is Takefusa Kubo – with the fleet-footed Japanese teenager having been sent on loan to Villarreal after impressing with RCD Mallorca.
Martin Odegaard impressed on loan at Real Sociedad in the 2019-20 campaignCredit: Getty – Contributor
Pep Guardiola has private chat with Zinedine Zidane after Man City’s win over Real Madrid
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
