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Real Madrid: 5 January targets for Zinedine Zidane

By Barrett Rouen

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 22: Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich in action during the UEFA Champions League group B match between RSC Anderlecht and Bayern Muenchen at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium on November 22, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 22: Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich in action during the UEFA Champions League group B match between RSC Anderlecht and Bayern Muenchen at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium on November 22, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /
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MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 26: Leonardo Bonucci of AC Milan in action during the Serie A match between AC Milan and Torino FC at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 26, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 26: Leonardo Bonucci of AC Milan in action during the Serie A match between AC Milan and Torino FC at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 26, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) /

2a: Leonardo Bonucci

Milan are a mess.  The Bonucci deal is not working out and Real Madrid need a defender.  There are worse ideas than Milan cutting their losses and signing the Italian.

The Real Madrid defence has this season essentially been Sergio Ramos performing heroic acts of physical self-sacrifice and the rest of the team standing around like a bunch of blind mice.  Needless to say, things have not gone very well for the Spanish side.

In the end Real Madrid will want to move in a younger and more Spanish direction but there would be few better options than Bonucci to sure up their defence in the meantime.

As AC Milan are again not in the Champions League Bonucci could aid in the push on that front.  A defence anchored by Ramos and Bonucci would bring new meaning to the idea of a fully-footballing defenders.  The attacks that those two could launch together coupled with the veracity of their defending would be phenomenal.

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The only thing that Real Madrid would have to worry about is that Bonucci has not looked up to snuff in a two centre-back pairing.  He’s still best suited to the three of Juventus.  If he can’t make that transition then it’s not worth doing.

2b: David Luiz

Real Madrid really only need one new defender and so it should be David Luiz or Bonucci but certainly not both.

Luiz is out of favor at Chelsea and despite all his flaws always seems to be popular with the big clubs in and around Europe.  He has the sort of charisma that would play well at Real Madrid and a personality that could unite what we’re hearing is an ever more fractured locker room.

The issue is that a combination of Sergio Ramos and David Luiz could be one of the most unstable ones in Europe.  Ramos needs his partner to be a conservative, physical and diligent defender because Ramos is the definition of buccaneering. That is why Pepe, Cannavaro and Varane have been such good partners for him.

Luiz may not be the exact thing that Ramos’ yang requires but he is at least an athletic footballer who could come in at a decent price in order to reinforce this too thin Madrid team.

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