With the departure of Nacho Fernandez to Saudi Arabia and the almost completed sale of Rafa Marin to Napoli, Real Madrid have only three dependable centre-backs for the next season, i.e., Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao, and David Alaba. Jesus Vallejo will also be present in the squad, but he is not a part of Ancelotti’s plans and is expected to leave this summer.
Such a situation demands the signing of another defender by the Merengue club, and up to now, everything indicates that Los Blancos have identified the Lille defender Leny Yoro as their preferred target.
In fact, MARCA claims that negotiations between Lille and Real Madrid for the defender are already well underway, and there are hopes that an agreement can be reached between the two sides for the French defender’s sale at a reasonable price.
The amount that the Vikings will have to pay for Yoro is expected to be around €40 million, with some additional variables, and is thus quite far from the €100 million that Lille were reported to be demanding at the start of this year. The fact that his contract is ending in 2025 might have played in Real Madrid’s favour to some extent.
Furthermore, Yoro himself had made it clear to his current club that he wants only to join the European champions. Other big clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, and PSG have all been rejected by the Frenchman.
The defender and Real Madrid had made the decision to work together for some time now, but the final push for his signing has come from the almost completed agreement between Napoli and the La Liga champions for the sale of Rafa Marin.
Real Madrid have retained a buyback clause in Marin’s contract, but for now, it will be Yoro who will be joining the likes of Rudiger and Militao in Ancelotti’s backline for the 2024-25 season.