Real Madrid are reportedly keen on signing Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling and are willing to offer Gareth Bale and cash to bring the Englishman to the Bernabéu. Sterling, who moved from Liverpool to Manchester City in 2015 for £44 million, has gone on to become one of the most consistent attackers in Europe.
According to Sky Sports, Real Madrid could offer £70 million and Welshman Gareth Bale to land Sterling in the summer. The report states that Madrid have tracked the 24-year-old for a long time and had discussions with City officials in the summer, but a move did not materialise. Madrid officials will watch Sterling in action for England during the upcoming international break.
But, City and Pep Guardiola are not interested in Bale, who was heavily linked with a move away from the Spanish club in the summer. The report goes on to say that Madrid will have to pay close to £200 million to make City even consider a sale.
Raheem Sterling: A wise or a futile move by Zidane?
It’s an open secret that Zinedine Zidane is not a fan of Welsh winger Gareth Bale and that he tried to move the 30-year-old in the summer. Bale wants to see out his contract at Madrid as no club will offer him the wages that Madrid pay him at the moment, and the Welshman doesn’t want a pay cut.
Raheem Sterling, meanwhile, is peaking at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, having scored and assisted bucket loads of goals for the defending Premier League champions. Sterling has been in sensational form for Manchester City over the last two years or so and has scored 82 goals and 70 assists in 206 games for City since joining from Liverpool. Sterling will get into most teams in the world, including Real Madrid, who have missed the goals and attacking play of Cristiano Ronaldo, since the Portuguese star quit Madrid for Juventus.
Sterling could form a good partnership with Karim Benzema in attack, with his capability of playing on the right or left side. Zidane should definitely go ahead with the deal considering his requirement of a player like Sterling, even if it means coughing up the astronomical fees being mentioned by the newspapers.
But as is the norm with City players now, they are notoriously difficult to prise away and unless anything dramatic occurs between now and the end of the season, Sterling will not be donning Real Madrid’s white jersey irrespective of the nature or magnitude of the offer, if any, that comes in.
So it might actually end up being a futile exercise by Los Blancos and they will be better off looking at other alternatives to make their next Galactico signing.
