Real Madrid are on the hunt for a new goalkeeper for at least this season, following a desperately unfortunate anterior cruciate ligament tear in Thibaut Courtois’ knee. The Belgian international was stretchered away in training on Thursday, and now Los Blancos will be forced back into the market.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper is likely to miss all if not most of the season due to the injury, and a shortlist was quickly drawn up for his replacement. That consisted of free agent David de Gea, Sevilla’s Yassine Bounou, Valencia’s Giorgi Mamardashvili, Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga and Dominik Livakovic of Dinamo Zagreb, as well as some mentioning Keylor Navas in line for a return.
Many assumed that de Gea was top of that list, given he perhaps has the largest reputation, is Spanish and is available on a free after being let go by Manchester United. However on Thursday night, the first reports emerged that Bounou may well be the favourite. Around €20m may be enough persuade Sevilla to part with him.
Part of the reason is that Carlo Ancelotti has his doubts about de Gea, as per Cadena Cope. The Italian manager is not convinced by the Spaniard, and has vetoed his arrival.
While it cannot be ruled out entirely, given he is perhaps the easiest to acquire, it does seem unlikely that Los Blancos would go against his wishes. That said, Ancelotti had been asking for a different back-up to Andriy Lunin for the best part of 12 months, and Los Blancos have continued on with the Ukraine international.