Zidane is not sold on Courtois
Big changes were made to Real Madrid’s starting line-up by Zinedine Zidane on Saturday for the first game of his second spell in charge of the club, as Gareth Bale, Isco and Marcelo returned to the side while Thibaut Courtois was dropped.
More changes are on the cards this summer, as a squad overhaul is being lined up, with senior members of the squad just about edging towards the wrong side of the proverbial hill. With Bale approaching 30, Sergio Ramos already 32 and Luka Modrić 33, the club are set to refresh the squad with a flurry of signings that will bring the average age of the squad down.
Many attackers, namely Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappé, have been strongly linked with moves to Madrid, but Madrid are now reportedly looking to sign a goalkeeper for the second consecutive summer, more specifically David De Gea of Manchester United.
For years, the Spaniard has been linked with a move to Madrid, which stirred controversy in Spain after he began his career at their local rivals Atlético Madrid. But after United dug their heels in, refusing to sell, with the help of one dodgy fax machine, Madrid eventually gave in and signed Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea.
But now, Zidane is keen for the club to go back in for De Gea, seemingly unconvinced by Courtois, as shown by his decision to drop the Belgian for his first game in charge, though he maintained it was not a final decision and that Courtois would get minutes on the field.
De Gea has stalled over signing a new contract with Manchester United in recent months, with negotiations over his pay packet proving to be an obstacle – he wants to be on equal pay to Alexis Sánchez.
Assuming Madrid have assured Zidane that the club will sign the players he wants this summer, we could finally see De Gea join Los Blancos for a fee of around £75 million.
United exercised their option to extend De Gea’s contract by one year back in November, meaning he is now signed to the club until the summer of 2020. If they can’t tie him down to a new long-term deal, the club may be forced into selling him this summer to avoid losing him for free the following year.
