Rafa Benitez’s Spanish giants Real Madrid are happy to sell us Asier Illarramendi this summer, providing they can secure long-term Arsenal target William Carvalho as his direct replacement, the Mirror reports.
Real Madrid, having watched Carvalho dominate the European Under-21 Championships with Portugal this summer, have made Sporting Lisbon’s 22-year-old powerhouse a primary target.
However, the La Liga runners-up are adamant that they’ll only let us sign Illarra once they’ve obtained Carvalho – who has the potential to develop into a midfield powerhouse of true European pedigree.
We hope that Real Madrid (as they often do) manage to get their deal done, as we think 25-year-old Illarramendi would be a perfect midfield summer signing for us.
Steven Gerrard’s left and is close to making his LA Galaxy debut, and while James Milner will partly fill the gap created by his exit, we really need another top notch midfielder alongside Jordan Henderson and Emre Can to maximise out chances of a top four Premier League finish.