Real Madrid are in dire need of center back help this winter, as Eder Militao has suffered a torn ACL yet again, leaving only Antonio Rudiger as an experienced option in central defense.
Raul Asencio looked good in his debut relief of Militao against Osasuna, recording an assist while helping the Merengues keep a clean sheet, but Real Madrid can’t possibly go into the thick of the Champions League campaign and La Liga title race with only Asencio and Rudiger as options.
Although Sergio Ramos has been linked to Real Madrid as an immediate center back signing, the current free agent looks like an unrealistic option due to the club’s desire to only sign players for the future.
RB Leipzig standout Castello Lukeba looks like the favorite to join Real Madrid in January, but with a need existing at center back even before Militao got injured, the Brazilian’s ACL tear means that Real will likely have to sign two center backs.
So they are going to need more options than just Lukeba, and with not much time and a whole lot at stake, there is a school of thought that says Real Madrid will need to put their agenda to the side and sign an experienced center back in January.
Al-Nassr star Aymeric Laporte has shown for Spain that he can still “go” on the big stage, and he is a readily available option with a La Liga – and Premier League – pedigree who can help Real Madrid.
According to a report from MARCA’s Jose Felix Diaz, Al-Nassr are currently asking 30 million euros for Laporte, as they signed him for 27 million and do not want to lose money on the transfer.
Thus, Al-Nassr want to make a profit on a player who is 30 years old and inherently less valuable now because of age, time away from a top league, and the bloated wages he is now on as a player in Saudi Arabia.
Real Madrid know that Laporte has experience and is a great ball-playing center back. Of the realistic options on the market, he is one of the best who actually has experience.
The problem is that it’s debatable if Laporte is better right now than the young guys like Lukeba. He isn’t a whole lot cheaper than them at 30 million euros either, and, in fact, is more expensive because his resale value would be horrible.
His wages compound two issues. Firstly, they will make it tougher for Real Madrid to make other signings since they’ll have to be paying him so much. And secondly, they make selling him to anyone other than another Saudi Pro League club impossible, meaning his net transfer value will be negative.
Basically, Real Madrid can help themselves moderately by signing Laporte for six months but will then bleed money in doing so. Whereas if they sign a young player like Lukeba for 50 million, he can help them for considerably more than six months and potentially increase his transfer value at least a little bit over the next five years.
