Real Madrid strives to convey the message that it is focused solely and solely on finishing the sports season successfully, lifting one of the two titles (Cup and Champions League) in which it still has options. There is no talk of signings, although they are undoubtedly being worked on: Bellingham is the priority, but not the only need. The intuition is growing in the club that a reinforcement on the right side is necessary to encourage competition between Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez. And there are several names on the table.
Since last year, Madrid drew up a list of possible reinforcements that included names like Cancelo, Foyth, Calabria… and Reece James, the first in the relationship and the favorite of the coaching staff. The Chelsea winger, barely 23 years old, likes a lot in the Valdebebas offices, but in Madrid they know that getting him out of the British club is a complicated task. Chelsea are not used to selling unless they have no choice; It was already seen in the cases of Courtois and Hazard, transferred (and not at a bargain price) when they had one year left on their contract and refused to renew, aware that Madrid was behind them.
Reece James renewed last September 2022 with Chelsea and extended his contract until 2028; therefore playing with a potential free start is not on the menu. But there is another trick that Madrid can count on if they decide to go all out for the Briton: Chelsea need to sell next summer to balance their accounts. And James is one of its most sought-after players. The club changed ownership last summer, forced by UK Government sanctions on Roman Abramovic for his connections with Putin and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the background, and Todd Boehly landed, who already owned percentages of the property of other large sports entities, such as the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) or the Los Angeles Dodgers of baseball.
Boehly changed the bench as little as possible (he dismissed Tuchel to sign Graham Potter) and invested a fortune in transfers, between summer and winter: Enzo Fernández (120 million), Fofana (80), Mudryk (70), Cucurella (65), Sterling (56), Badiashile (38), Koulibaly (38), Mudeke (35), Malo Gusto (30)… But in the London club they already know that next summer they will have to make sales of some importance to meet the financial requirements of the Premier and UEFA: they have just made the accounts for the 2021-22 academic year official, the last one under the ownership of Roman Abramovic, with losses of 140 million euros. And he already came from having lost more than 170 million in the 2020-21 campaign, in which he was European champion.
Havertz, another one who gets within range
The economic control of the Premier specifies that losses of a maximum of 120 million euros can be accumulated adding the last three seasons. Chelsea is in an almost certain position of committing a breach of said rule, something for which the Premier has already opened a file against Everton, with a possible loss of points on the table. Hence, there is already speculation about the operations that Chelsea will have to do in the summer; Mason Mount is the name that sounds the most, but it might not be the only one: Reece James is the second most valuable player in Chelsea’s Transfermarkt, with 70 million, only behind Enzo Fernández (80). And the worst thing is the rush: I would need to do the operations before June 30 so that they counted in the accounts for this season and thus avoid potential sanctions.
And Madrid can take advantage of this extreme need to generate income from the sale of footballers to try to fish for a new top-level right-back with which to strengthen its squad for the next decade. He could even consider going further: there are other interesting players in the London team, such as Kai Havertz, for whom Madrid already negotiated when he was still playing for Bayer Leverkusen, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to everything. But the main white interest in Stamford Bridge is called Reece James and circumstances may put his signing much more within range than might be expected.
To make matters worse, both clubs are going to see each other in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and it will be the opportunity for Florentino Pérez and José Ángel Sánchez to meet the new Chelsea management. Relations were good with the previous one, especially with Abramovich’s right hand at the club, the also Russian Marina Granovskaia; It will be necessary to see what Todd Boehly’s new team is like and if he opens up to a negotiation for which, whether he likes it or not, he is obliged.
