Sunderland ‘submit significant offer’ for spectacular Real Madrid coup – report

Sunderland have submitted a €15m / £13m offer to sign a Real Madrid star who just made a mockery of Manchester City, and a report claims Real are ‘considering’ accepting the bid.

Real Madrid were without numerous household names for their Champions League Round of 16 clash with Manchester City. Nevertheless, Los Blancos made mincemeat of Pep Guardiola’s side, winning both legs and emerging 5-1 winners on aggregate.

One player who started both contests was 18-year-old midfielder Thiago Pitarch. And according to the latest from DefensaCentral, Sunderland have already seen enough to warrant tabling a bid.

It’s claimed Pitarch is on the radars of several Premier League sides, but it’s Sunderland who’ve jumped the queue and acted on their interest.

An offer worth €15m / £13m has reportedly been submitted, and it’s under consideration at the Bernabeu.

The dilemma Real Madrid face is that while Pitarch is clearly a fine player, he’s likely to slip back down the pecking order once the injury list subsides. What’s more, it’s no secret Real Madrid plan to sign at least one new high profile midfielder in the summer.

As such, it’s entirely possible Pitarch is relegated back into Real Madrid’s B team next season despite his breakthrough in the first team this year.

DefensaCentral state Real Madrid are therefore weighing up whether to cash in, with the €15m offer termed ‘significant’ for such a young player.

Of course, Pitarch looks to have the world at his feet, but youngsters don’t always reach their true potential and if his development stalls, €15m might be looked back upon as good business for the Spanish giant.

One compromise cited in the piece is Real Madrid agreeing to sell Pitarch to Sunderland, but covering their backs with buy-back options.

That is the transfer strategy Real Madrid adopted when offloading Nico Paz to Como in 2024, and all the signs now point towards Real bringing Paz back this summer for a fraction of his true value thanks to the buy-back options.

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Biggest transfer stories today – New Rashford bid / £17m Tottenham deal / Bastoni to Liverpool blocked

In other news, Barcelona have tabled a new bid for Marcus Rashford, and a report has outlined exactly how Manchester United will respond.

Elsewhere, a meeting held in London earlier this week looks to have yielded a breakthrough, with a report claiming Tottenham are set to sell one of their regular starters for around £17million.

Finally, Liverpool’s hopes of convincing Inter Milan to cash in on Alessandro Bastoni this summer are fading, with sources confirming to TEAMtalk that the Nerazzurri are working on a new mega-money contract offer for a star who has also attracted attention from Barcelona and Chelsea.