“We wanted this player very badly to provide stability”, £59,000-a-week wants to sign for Real Madrid in January

The La Liga champions Real Madrid are supposedly the frontrunners to acquire Josko Gvardiol, who is also wanted by Chelsea and Manchester City

The Spanish media site Fichajes claims to have learned that Real Madrid will shortly make an offer to sign Josko Gvardiol. The Croatian defender has garnered attention from many teams, including Chelsea and Manchester City. However, the current La Liga winners are the favourites to sign the player during the next summer transfer window.

Since signing with RB Leipzig, Josko Gvardiol’s brief professional career has achieved new heights. In the previous year and a half, the 20-year-old has established himself as a top-tier defender in the Bundesliga. His popularity rose dramatically following his team’s excellent performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The Croat has already made 65 appearances for Leipzig at the club level, and his play has caught the eye of numerous notable people. And the top three teams that want to recruit Gvardiol in the summer are Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester City.

There is concern that Real Madrid may lose Nacho as a free agent this summer due to protracted contract talks. Furthermore, Jesus Vallejo may leave the Bernabeu with Nacho. With David Alaba already far beyond his prime, Real Madrid must replace him with a young, promising central defender. Los Blancos now have the upper hand in signing Gvardiol, who has just come to their attention.

Benoit Badiashile, formerly of AS Monaco, joined the Blues this month after being acquired from the club. And it seems that gave Real Madrid an upper edge in their pursuit of Gvardiol’s signature. In light of Kalidou Koulibaly’s erratic play, Chelsea will continue to pursue a summer transfer for Gvardiol.

However, Manchester City’s interest is unexpected given that they just acquired Manuel Akanji this summer. There is a lack of clarity over Gvardiol’s future role unless one of John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, or Nathan Ake decides to depart. But the Citizens are still a contender for the 20-year-old.

To sign Gvardiol, a bidder will have to shell out at least €100 million. It remains to be seen whether Real Madrid would spend big this summer to beat off Chelsea and Manchester City for his signing.