According to Le10 Sport Spanish giants have already contacted Liverpool star Sadio Mane over a possible transfer. Los Blancos have already marked him as the ideal replacement for ageing attacker Gareth Bale.
Mane has become one of the world’s best right wingers since joining Liverpool from Southampton in 2016. The Senegalese attacker scored 26 goals in season 2018/19, winning a joint Golden Boot alongside Harry Kane and teammate Mohammed Salah.
Having continued his red hot form, the 26-year-old has already scored 14 goals this season. Given his exploits in the Premier League, Liverpool are likely to demand more than the £145m they got paid to sell Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona two years ago.
There have been rumours that Zinedine Zidane has personally spoken to Mane in a bid to convince him to join Real Madrid. The Frenchman is regarded as a fervent admirer of the Senegalese attacker’s qualities in the attack and wishes to link him up with in-form striker Karim Benzema in order to create a devastating pairing upfront.
However, pricing Mane away from Liverpool’s clutches will be no sinch for Los Merengues as the player extended his contract upto 2023 in November 2018.
Real Madrid are hoping to raise funds for the transfer through the sales of out-of-favour stars James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale. Both James and Bale have been incessantly linked with a move out of the club since Zidane was reinstated as Real Madrid boss last season.
Bale was whiskers away from sealing a move to China before Real Madrid decided to pull the plug on the deal. On the other hand, James was also linked with a move to Serie A outfit Napoli after he came back to the Spanish capital following his two-year loan stint with Bayern Munich.
It remains to be seen whether Real Madrid can actually pull out such complicated business deals in time before the transfer window slama shut.