It was no less than a shock when Cristiano Ronaldo announced that he was leaving Real Madrid and joining Italian football giant Juventus. Many Real Madrid fans are still heartbroken but the game needs to go on and it is time for Ronaldo’s former team to find a replacement for him. According to Michael Bridge, a sports expert from Sky Sports feels that Real Madrid has already found a replacement for Ronaldo.
Some believe that Real Madrid will be taking a look at African football stars, with the potential they have to offer. Some of them will cause a revolution in the football world in a few years, and Real Madrid might just want to sign them up early.
Ronaldo has won Ballon d’Or for five times. Only a few days, the 33-years old signed a £105 million deal with Juventus that will last for the next five years. This ends Ronaldo’s nine-year stay at Real Madrid. While he undoubtedly the star of the moment, let us not forget about the man who’ll be taking up his job with Real Madrid.
*drumrolls* Gareth Frank Bale is that man. For those who don’t know, Bale is 28-years old and plays for the Wales national team. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the first choice of Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid. They wanted to sign contracts with Eden Hazard, Neymar, Harry Kane, and Kylian Mbappe but they were off-limits as reported by most Nigeria football News sites.
According to a Spanish polling website Marca, 54 percent Real Madrid fans feel that Kylian Mbappe will replace Ronaldo. Hazard received 15 percent votes, Neymar was close behind with 14 percent votes, and Kane was the last one with 10 percent votes.
Neymar and Mbappe are in longstanding contracts with Paris Saint Germain football club as they won’t want two of their top players to leave. Perez is pitching for Neymar but he won’t leave PSG for a very long time. Daniel Levy, chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, won’t let Perez have Kane and if he wants Hazard, he’ll have to sign a minimum cheque of €200 million, which is obviously nothing he is looking forward to. Hazard is the only one who has openly showed interest in playing for Real Madrid. Mbappa is keen on playing for Barcelona football club.
An opportunity in disguise
Even though Real Madrid is in depression over Ronaldo leaving, they should consider it as their golden opportunity to prove to the world that they can play well and win tournaments without their star player. Along with the help of Madrid’s manager, Julen Lopetegui, Bale definitely has something in him that’ll help him become the Spanish team’s next great leader.
According to the sports expert Bridge, Bale might have already joined the team in Spain. He is in form currently and scored one of the best goals of the season against Liverpool in the past couple months. In 2017-18, Bale hit 21 goals in 38 matches and has the ability to last through a season without getting injured, which is a plus for any team. Real Madrid hasn’t confirmed anything yet neither has Bale because Harry Kane is also a viable option for them but it’ll be a difficult process. Real Madrid wants a player who can promise them a Champions League win in the next season, which will make them the first team to win the trophy for four consecutive seasons.