Real Madrid see €40m-rated Bundesliga rising star as the main candidate for key position | OneFootball

Real Madrid find themselves under intense pressure after back-to-back heavy defeats against FC Barcelona and AC Milan in La Liga and the UEFA Champions League, respectively.

Both encounters have laid bare the limitations in the squad across multiple positions, causing the administration at Valdebebas to sit up and take notice.

As reported earlier, Los Blancos now understand the need to sign a new right-back as early as January. On top of that, a new central midfielder will also be on the agenda for the summer of 2025 to fill the void left by Toni Kroos.

Castello Lukeba for the centre-back position

Apart from that, Real Madrid will also look for a new centre-back in the summer of 2025 with MARCA reporting that RB Leipzig’s Castello Lukeba is the main candidate for the Spanish capital club.

Real Madrid’s main CB target. (Photo by Pau Barrena/Getty Images)

Lukeba, 21, has been on the Merengues’ radars for some time now and as per the report, he is seen as the leading target to reinforce the central defensive department before next season.

It goes without saying that Real Madrid need a new player in the centre-back as they cannot continue relying solely on the pairing of Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger.

After all, Jesus Vallejo is out of favour while David Alaba’s slow recovery from injury has raised concerns about the level he will be at when he eventually returns.

Players like Vitor Reis and Aymeric Laporte are also being considered, as has already been reported before, but Lukeba is seen as the main candidate.

Signing the Frenchman from RB Leipzig will take a huge sum though after he signed a new contract with the Bundesliga club only last month, committing himself to them until 2028.

All in all, the summer transfer window of 2025 could prove to be quite an eventful one at Real Madrid.

*Player valuation in title obtained from transfermarkt.com on date of publication