Real Madrid ready to pay €35m for Man Utd's answer to Alexander-Arnold

Imre Himmelbauer

• 22 Jan 2024 21:12 GMT
• 6 min read

In their never-ending search for young talent, Real Madrid have set their sights on Lutsharel Geertruida, Spanish media claims.

The Feyenoord player is earmarked as the successor to 32-year-old Daniel Carvajal, who is contracted until 2025. The 23-year-old defender is seen as an interesting option partly due to his versatility: Geertruida can play as a right back, central defender and defensive midfielder.

Initially, the right-footer is reportedly seen as a backup player, but in the future, the Dutch international would become a regular fixture in the Spanish capital.

Los Blancos are said to be willing to pay €35 million for Geertruida, who has a contract in Rotterdam until the summer of 2025. His Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) currently stands at €13.3m.

The next Alexander-Arnold?

Chairman Florentino Pérez is evaluating various options to strengthen the right-back position and Geertruida is one of the favourites, along with Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong and Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold.

However, the latter two will cost more than Geertruida. In the Feyenoord star, Real Madrid see the perfect combination of youth, quality and affordability. Indeed, according to data experts SciSports, Geertruida profiles similarly to Alexander-Arnold despite his best position arguably being at centre-back.

More intriguingly, using SciSports' Career Advice tool, we can see that Geetruida's best transfer option isn't Real Madrid but actually Man Utd. The Red Devils are in the market for a right-back - also having been linked with Frimpong - and they would be well advised to rival Los Blancos for Geertruida.

It must be said, though, that the alleged interest from Real Madrid is striking, as Geertruida seems to be going through a bad phase at the moment. Nevertheless, this season, the defender has managed to score five times and provide two assists in 26 matches.