#real-madrid

#real-madrid

Newcastle United and Aston Villa have submitted an offer to sign the Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen. The talented young defender recently joined Real Madrid from Bournemouth, and the Spanish club has no intention of sanctioning his departure. They will not enter into negotiations with the English clubs, and it remains to be seen whether Newcastle or Aston Villa move on to other targets.

Given the level of chaotic mediocrity Real Madrid showed on Sunday, squeaking past nine-man Rayo Vallecano 2-1 in LaLiga, there was a nice comic touch from coach Álvaro Arbeloa in reminding his critical postmatch audience: "Look, I'm not Gandalf the Wizard!" Maybe Arbeloa reached for the "Lord of the Rings" reference because he knows that in the next couple of weeks, he's about to put his squad under the control of a man many have felt to be as merciless as any dark J.R.R. Tolkien character.

Real Madrid dramatically stayed within a point of Barcelona at the top of LaLiga after Kylian Mbappe scored in the 10th minute of stoppage time to secure a 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano. Vinicius Junior's stunning opener was cancelled out by Jorge de Frutos early in the second half and looked likely to drop points at home even after the visitors were reduced to 10 men.

"As a Barcelona fan, I hope Arbeloa fails," Arshavin said, bluntly and without hesitation.

Turkish International midfielder Arda Guler is a target for Arsenal at the end of the season. According to a report from Fichajes, the 20-year-old midfielder has been monitored for several months and is an absolute priority for Arsenal next season. Guler is on the radar of Chelsea as well. Arteta is a fan of Arda Guler The report further claims that manager Mikel Arteta is completely enamoured with the Turkish midfielder.

Karim Benzema is reportedly at war with current club Al-Ittihad, amid talks of a move back to Real Madrid. Benzema, 38, left Los Blancos for Saudi Arabia in 2023 and has since scored 54 goals in 83 games for the Middle-Eastern outfit. With just six months left on his current deal, the French striker is said to now be engulfed in a dispute with the club's owners over a failed contract extension.

The problem is we aren't consistent in our play, we have to fix that, you can't have one day [playing well] and another not, a champion team does not do that, Mbappe told reporters. We deserve to be in this situation today. Benfica were better. Now we have to play two more playoff games. It hurts to have to play those. We wanted to have the time in February to work on our game.

In LaLiga, Real Madrid swapped flair for pragmatism to get a big win on the road against a strong Villarreal side, and Juventus showed their class in Serie A with a big victory over struggling Napoli that puts them back in touch with the top four. Plus there was more panic for Liverpool, as they lost at Bournemouth with a last-gasp goal that bumped them out of the top four.

It will be interesting to see if Real Madrid is willing to sanction his departure. The 25-year-old has done well for the La Liga outfit since joining them, but a move to the Premier League could be exciting for the French international. He has the physicality and technical attributes for Premier League football, and he could be a key player for Liverpool and Tottenham.