Real Madrid identify Edinson Cavani as Ronaldo replacement; ready to shell out £90m

Real Madrid have focussed their attention on Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani as they look to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure. Madrid are willing to shell out a whopping £90m for the striker, who scored 40 goals in all competitions last season.

Cavani has been banging in goals in domestic football ever since his Napoli days and has emerged as the Spanish giants’ prime target after they were put off by Chelsea’s £178m evaluation of Belgian winger Eden Hazard. The deal would make sense from the player’s point of view as well. Cavani’s relationship with fellow striker Neymar is strained, to say the least, and he could be in favour of a move away.

Madrid is the dream for any footballer and a chance to play alongside the likes of Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric might be an opportunity too ripe to pass up.

The Uruguayan is the ideal man to replace Ronaldo, who left for Juventus in a £100m deal earlier this summer after spending nine fruitful seasons in Spain. Cavani has averaged over 30 goals a season in the last few campaigns and even netted a Ronaldo-esque 40 last season. The only stumbling block might be the wages Cavani demands.

He is currently earning €12 million a year and will settle for nothing less than that, especially considering this is likely to be his last big-money transfer. Real Madrid can shell out that kind of cash, but might be unwilling to do so on a player aged 31. With other options like Kylian Mbappe still in the market, it might make more sense from a financial perspective for Madrid to target a younger alternative.

Either way, Julen Lopetegui needs a striker at the Bernabeu to replace Karim Benzema who has lost the faith of the management as well as the fans after a couple of horrific seasons spearheading the attack. With Ronaldo gone, Benzema is unlikely to get any better and should be offloaded.