Bernabeu side scout Old Trafford youngster.
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REAL MADRID are paying special attention to Danny Welbeck’s contract wrangle with Manchester United.
Bernabeu boss Jose Mourinho is a long-term admirer of the England striker and will monitor the situation between now and the summer.
Academy product Welbeck earns £15,000 a week on his current deal, which expires in 18 months and has told United he wants £60,000-plus.
United are unwilling to match that figure and believe their pay structure adequately rewards players’ progress throughout their careers.
However, Welbeck feels he is worth more – and that has alerted Mourinho.
Real had scouts at five United games in December and January and, while they reject the suggestion they were there to watch just one player, sources close to the Spaniards insist Welbeck’s performances WERE being analysed.
SOURCE: Sunday People
Whilst Real Madrid have been in fine form this season and have found goals free and easy to come by, Jose Mourinho doesn’t have a great many striking options. In fact the La Liga giants only have two recognised strikers in their first team squad, Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema, and whilst effective goal-scoring support comes from Cristiano Ronaldo from a a wide area there is scope to bring in reinforcements.
Welbeck has had a fantastic season thus far this term, scoring eight goals in all competitions, and the 21 year old clearly feels he is worth a new deal, even though he only signed an extended lucrative contract a year ago. The England international has pushed ahead of Dimitar Berbatov in the Old Trafford pecking order and indeed is probably just ahead of the under performing Javier Hernandez and may therefore feel he has earned the right to haggle over a new deal, Sir Alex Ferguson may well disagree.
Having already been capped three times at full international level the Man United youngster probably have ambitions of making the Euro 2012 squad and a lot will depend on how regular Welbeck’s first team outings are from now until May, so any fall-out at this stage between player and manager could be very disruptive to those hopes.
Real Madrid do of course have a knack of nabbing Man United talent having taken the aforementioned Ronaldo, David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Ferguson may well be worried that Mourinho could repeat the trick.
However Welbeck seems a grounded individual and could well just be pushed into this position by an overly eager agent and it seems likely that the locally born attacker will be looking to stay at Man United for quite some time yet.
The adaptable forward, who can play out wide as well as up front, greatly benefited from a season long loan spell at Sunderland last term that helped hone Welbeck’s game and make him a far more effective attacking weapon.