Real Madrid have reportedly lined up Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes as a possible back-up plan if they are unable to land Dayot Upamecano this summer.
The 22-year-old established himself as a key figure for the Ligue 1 side this season, making 34 appearances across all competitions to emerge as a top talent.
While Sergio Ramos turns 35 next year and with a lack of quality and depth in central defence aside from Raphael Varane and Eder Militao, with the latter struggling to prove his worth at the Bernabeu this season after his arrival last summer, it’s arguably an area of concern for the Spanish giants in the long term.
According to AS, Upamecano is a top target for Zinedine Zidane, but his possible price-tag coupled with competition from Bayern Munich has seemingly forced Real Madrid to consider other options.
That in turn has taken them to Gabriel, who is said to tick the right boxes as far as Los Blancos are concerned in terms of his age, experience, ability to play on the left side of the defensive pairing in the middle and perhaps most importantly, that he could be available for around €20m.
With those factors in mind, that would seemingly make him a much more appealing option, although it’s noted that given he would take up a non-EU spot, that’s something that Real Madrid would have to find a solution for as they have no available slots open as things currently stand while Chelsea could provide stiff competition.
That said, it appears to be a potentially tricky pursuit still, but Real Madrid appear to be keen to shore things up at the back as although they boast the best defensive record in La Liga this season after 27 games played having conceded just 19 goals, they are arguably in need of a long-term solution in that department and Gabriel could emerge as a top option.
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