Arsenal defender closer to joining Real Madrid than Man City ace – report | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho is understandably worried about Real Madrid’s defensive situation, and has made it his first priority to renovate the department.

He has already seemingly secured two big names in Denzel Dumfries and Ibrahima Konate and both stars could be announced as new Real Madrid players as early as this week.

The Portuguese manager, however, is not satisfied and has reportedly asked for two more signings – an elite centre-back and a starting-quality left-back.

Two Premier League options

As confirmed by Diario AS recently, Real Madrid have two targets to fill the aforementioned voids – Josko Gvardiol and Riccardo Calafiori. 

Gvardiol is on Madrid’s radar too. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Both players are elite centre-backs and able options to play at left-back as well, helping the club kill two birds with one stone. Signing one of them, at this point, is said to be a top priority.

The reason the two Premier League stars are being considered is that Mourinho is asking for a purely defensive left-back.

He is aiming for a system where his full-backs complement each other, and an attacking right-back is best balanced by a defensive left-back.

One name is closer

The report further adds that the club have already approved Mourinho’s request to sign one of the two players and is working on the operation.

Mourinho admires Calafiori. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Of the duo, however, Calafiori is said to be closer to joining Real Madrid than Josko Gvardiol at this point in time.

Mourinho loves the Arsenal defender and would be pleased to have him in his squad.

The idea Mourinho has is to have a flexible defensive structure that can morph from a four-man setup to a three-man setup based on the game state.

A new signing of this profile will go a long way in enabling that plan.