Real Madrid 'eyeing' Trent Alexander-Arnold in search for new right-back
By Tom Gott
Real Madrid are contemplating signing a new right-back next summer and a report from Spain has suggested they are aiming big, with Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold towards the top of their wish list.
Carlo Ancelotti has just one senior right-back in his squad, 29-year-old Dani Carvajal, and while the Spaniard is accepted to be one of the best in the world in his position, the problem is that he has hardly been fit over the past 18 months.
Various injuries saw Carvajal miss 35 matches last season - he played in just 15 - and after being unavailable for the European Championships, he has already picked up another injury which is expected to sideline him for a few weeks.
It's for that reason that plenty of fans have called for Real to sign a new right-back, and according to Defensa Central, those in charge at the Bernabeu agree, although their list of potential targets verge on outlandish.
At the top of their wish list is Liverpool star Alexander-Arnold, who is seen as capable of coming in and making an immediate impact in Spain.
What this report has correct is that Alexander-Arnold is an excellent full-back, but it's for exactly that reason that Liverpool aren't going to sell him. He just signed a new contract in the summer and still has four years left on his deal, so it would take an ungodly sum of money to sign him. Real will know he's not an option.
As the story goes, they also have Chelsea's Reece James on their radar, but yet again, he's far too valuable to his current club and is not going to be leaving in the summer. No chance.
There is a third target on the list, and this one is back in the world of realism. It's Nice's Youcef Atal, who has been linked to Real for a good few years now.
Atal will enter the final two years of his contract next summer and has long been tipped to leave Nice for bigger and better things, so it's a deal which makes overwhelmingly more sense than wasting their time chasing Alexander-Arnold or James.