• March 19, 2024

Midfield playmaker joins Real Madrid for 55€ million

Ajax-donny-van-der-beek

As we told you yesterday Real Madrid were on the cusp of signing Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek after the 22-year-old agreed personal terms with Los Blancos.

Now according to Spanish sports news outlet ABC, Real Madrid have agreed to a 55€ million six-year deal plus add-ons for the Ajax star.

For all of you out there who wanted to see Real Madrid sign Paul Pogba, there is still a faint glimmer of hope if they can somehow manage to offload Gareth Bale.

New boy van de Beek will not arrive at the Santiago Bernabeu until after Ajax play Greek side PAOK Thessaloniki in the second leg of their Champions League qualifier on August  13th according to Dutch newspaper AD.

Following their success in last season’s competition when they reached the semi-final, Ajax has seen many of their young stars leave for bigger clubs.

Frenkie de Jong left to join Barcelona, Matthijs de Ligt joined Juventus, and now Donny van de Beek is joining Real Madrid.

After a stunning season with the Dutch champions, van der Beek looks more than ready to step up to the big league.

Last season van der Beek scored 17 goals and provided 13 assists for the Amsterdam club.

Van de Beek joined Ajax when he was just eight-years-old making his first-team debut at the age of 17 and then an established first-team starter a year later.

Regarded as being tireless and well rounded, the young Dutchman is certainly the type of player Zinedine Zidane likes and is probably already pencilled in to be the replacement for Luka Modric.

Van de Beek will be the Real Madrid managers sixth major signing of the summer following the arrivals of Eder Militao, Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy, and Rodrygo.

Real Madrid intensify training

After having been given the weekend and most of Monday off, Real Madrid’s players were put through their paces at the  Valdebebas yesterday evening ahead of their trip to Austria.

Manager Zinedine Zidane took yesterday’s training session, which was focused on possession and collective pressing.

The only new face at training yesterday was Adrian de la Fuente and midfielder Brahim Diaz, who was training alone as he recovers from injury.

Real Madrid’s next pre-season game will be against Red Bull Salzburg in Austria on Wednesday, August 7th.

Valderrama tells James he needs to leave Real Madrid

Colombian legend Carlos Valderrama believes that his countryman, James Rodriguez, needs to leave Real Madrid as it is obvious that manager Zinedine Zidane does not want him there.

While speaking to Spanish sports newspaper Marca, Valderrama said: “Let him go to another team.”

“The coach doesn’t want him. If he stays at Real Madrid he won’t play.”

The Columbian icon doesn’t understand where it all went wrong for James at Madrid and remembers when James was a hero at the club.

“The fans had a party when he arrived,” Valderrama continued.

“The president called a party, but the coach doesn’t want him.

“If he stays he won’t play so it’s better to let him go. The one who chooses the line-up is the coach.”