Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey has emerged as a shock rumoured target for reigning European champions Real Madrid as Zinedine Zidane apparently looks to freshen up his squad with the addition of the versatile Welshman.
Real are currently banned from registering new players until January 2018 after being slapped with a transfer ban by FIFA, but an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport is ongoing. If they are successful in having the ban overturned, count on Los Blancos being busy in the market.
According to the Sun, Zidane has been given the go aheadby Bernabeu president Florentino Perezto plan andmake changes to his squad. That is where a £25m move for Ramsey would come in, with Real said to think highly of the 25-year-old, who would already have one very familiar face in Spain in the shape of international colleague Gareth Bale.
The fact that Ramsey has shown he is capable of playing anywhere across midfield, and even as stand-in forward on occasion, is what the tabloid report claims is of great appeal to Real. The Madrid club is allegedly confident of persuading him to leave the Gunners by offering a rise on his £90,000 weekly pay packet.
Luka Modric, despite recently signing a new long-term contract, has struggled with various injury layoffs over the last few seasons, while there have also long been doubts over whether young Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic is quite good enough for the very highest level.
Injuries to other key players such as Toni Kroos and Casemiro this season have perhaps also proven to Zidane that his midfield is not as strong as it ought to be when such problems arise.
This is not the first time that Ramsey, a player who joined Arsenal at the tender age of 17 and later had to overcome a career threatening broken leg, has been linked with a switch to La Liga. Barcelona were rumoured to be interested on more than occasion last season but nothing real ever came of it.
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