Real Madrid will reportedly look to push their way to the front of the queue for Ajax youngster Frenkie de Jong with a whopping €80m bid.
The 21-year-old continues to impress for the Dutch giants, as he has been an ever-present so far this season and remains a key figure for the side despite his young age.
With his technical quality, passing ability and overall influence in midfield, it’s no real surprise that he’s attracting interest from top clubs around Europe. Now though, De Telegraaf report that Real Madrid have set their sights on him and could be willing to splash out up to €80m to sign him.
It’s added that Barcelona had been considered to be in pole position for some time, but it remains to be seen if their rivals now leapfrog them with such a sizeable offer, while it’s added that Tottenham, PSG, Man City, Bayern Munich and Man Utd are all keen too.
Time will tell where De Jong ends up, but the calibre of the touted interested parties above tells its own story in terms of how highly rated he is around Europe, with the report noting that Madrid see him as a successor to Luka Modric.
Nevertheless, that’s a lot of money for a player who has yet to prove himself consistently at the highest level, but perhaps Real Madrid believe that he will make that step up in Spain when required and are reportedly willing to invest heavily in him to ensure that they beat the competition.
While Modric remains a fundamental figure for coach Julen Lopetegui and has come off the back of reaching a World Cup final this past summer and earning various awards for his exploits over the past 12 months, he did turn 33 earlier this month.
With that in mind, signing a long-term successor now to be ready to step into the role and learn from Modric rather than be pushed straight into action to replace him could be a very sensible bit of business, and De Jong is seemingly the top priority to fill that future void.