Paris Saint-Germain’s academy sporting director Luis Fernandez has ruled out any possibility of Real Madrid target Neymar parting ways the French club.
He was quoted saying, “Neymar isn’t going to go to Real Madrid. If PSG have brought in Neymar or [Kylian] Mbappe, it’s because they want them to stay, not to leave.”
With a move for Neymar now looking unlikely, here are three replacements Real Madrid can consider.
Mohamed Salah
The 25-year-old has been the signing of the summer for the 2017-18 season. The Egyptian came from AS Roma for a fee reported to be around £36.9 million which could and seems likely to rise to £43.9 million.
Many people were sceptical about the transfer, given that Salah’s previous experience in the Premier League was a rather poor one with the Egyptian failing to make a mark at Chelsea. However, Klopp remained convinced of Salah’s qualities and the Egyptian repaid the manager’s faith in him by churning out some world-class performances.
The exciting winger who has been bulleting past Premier League and European defences has already scored close to 30 goals this season.
Such a high scoring stat has caught the attention of Real Madrid who could now be interested in bringing the Egyptian to Santiago Bernabeu. If Salah were to leave for Real Madrid, he would be a perfect foil in the final third of the attack to Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Paulo Dybala
The left-footed Argentine has been compared to Messi on several occasions for their similar stature and nature of football. Dybala has been in imperious form for Juventus this season and is finally living up to his potential of becoming a world-class player. It will not be surprising to see Florentino Perez, make an audacious approach for the Juventus forward and given Perez’s history of bringing in star players to Madrid, a switch to the Bernabeu could well be on the cards for Dybala.
Although he would be playing on the right wing, Dybala would certainly be a like for like replacement for Ronaldo in terms of the quality he can add to the Real attack. Finally, a chance for Bernabeu to see what it would be like to have a Messi-ish player on their team.
Eden Hazard
The Chelsea winger is magical on his night and can dribble past opposition whenever he fancies. He has long been linked with a move to the Spanish capital with the Belgian known to be a huge admirer of current Real boss Zidane. The reports have only intensified as Zidane has praised Hazard on multiple occasions as well. Hazard has the “Galactico” status to his game and being a left-winger he is an ideal replacement for Ronaldo.
