Scouting 3 Potential Summer Transfer Targets for Real Madrid

Real Madrid are likely set for a busy transfer window this summer, as the club looks to rebound from a 2014-15 season defined by underachievement. 

After only winning the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup cost Carlo Ancelotti his job, new manager Rafael Benitez and club president Florentino Perez will be eyeing changes to the composition of Real's squad, particularly after Perez declared the Madrilenian's arrival the beginning of "a new era."

Los Blancos' transfer activity will be interesting to watch this offseason. Benitez, given the precedent he's set in his managerial career, is likely to view Madrid's squad as unbalanced or top heavy. A renowned tactician and organiser of defensively sound teams, most suspect the new coach will look to add steel and defensive strength to Real Madrid. However, that may depend on how much authority Benitez is given by Perez, the initiator of the Galactico policy, whose influence over transfer matters in his time as president has been unyielding.

Whom might Real Madrid sign? Who are the potential targets currently linked with the club?

Below, we examine three.

Geoffrey Kondogbia

Position: Defensive Midfielder

Club: Monaco

Age: 22

Estimated Value: £20 million

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Geoffrey Kondogbia will be a highly sought-after player this summer, following an impressive season in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League with Monaco. 

The Frenchman is a defensive midfielder possessing an extremely promising blend of physicality and strong technical ability. 

Without the ball, he's a tireless worker, a robust tackler and is fast to react—qualities that made him a critical component of Leonardo Jardim's extremely tight Monaco outfit in 2014-15. With the ball, Kondogbia possesses a surprisingly soft touch for a player over six foot. He can link up effectively in the final third and regularly slips out of tight corners with clever shielding and manipulations of the ball with his preferred left boot. 

In a tactical sense, he still has improvements to make and can be guilty of relying on his athleticism to bail him out from positional lapses. But it's the combination he provides that will ensure the 22-year-old will be in high demand this summer; he's effective as both a midfield shield and a deep-lying playmaker. 

According to Squawka, the France international wins 2.88 tackles per 90 minutes, makes 2.69 interceptions, wins more than 60 per cent of his duels and has a passing completion rate of 86 per cent—numbers that compare very well with leading players of a similar style and stature, such as Nemanja Matic and Morgan Schneiderlin.

AS reports that Real Madrid have made an enquiry to Kondogbia's camp about his availability, and the Spanish giants would benefit greatly from his multi-skilled, physical presence at the heart of the formation.

Arturo Vidal

Position: Central Midfielder

Club: Juventus

Age: 28

Estimated Value: £30 million

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"I am the best player in the world in my position," Arturo Vidal said in January 2014, according to Sport Bild (h/t Goal). It was a bold remark from the Chilean. And though many would debate the point, he's certainly in the discussion when it comes to the world's elite central midfielders. 

The Juventus star is fine all-rounder, the sort of midfielder who mixes gritty and feisty defensive work with an ability to push forward to score and create.

It was in the 2012-13 season when he really showcased the dynamism of his two-way game. Across all competitions, he tallied 15 goals and 11 assists, while also using his physicality to bolster the Old Lady's defensive strength in a season in which they conceded just 24 goals in 38 league games. 

Comfortable as both a deep or advanced midfielder—he can be an attacking force when played behind a pair of forwards, as he's often done for Juventus and Chile—the 28-year-old offers versatility and variety and would be a natural fit in Real Madrid's powerful lineup.

According to Goal, Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta expects Los Blancos to bid for the Chilean this summer. 

David De Gea

Position: Goalkeeper

Club: Manchester United

Age: 24

Estimated Value: £25 million

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The 2014-15 season was a spectacular one for David De Gea, who won Manchester United's Player of the Year award for the second year in a row after the finest 12 months of his career. 

The Spaniard has grown into one of the world's finest shot-stoppers, possessing impressive reflexes and immense athleticism that have seen him pull off a string (a long string) of spectacular saves.

In the Premier League, he started all but one of United's 38 games in the recently completed season and conceded just 36 goals—a remarkable figure when you consider that the defence in front of him was in constant upheaval because of injuries and form issues. 

De Gea is also a fine distributor of the ball from the back, and according to Squawka, he finished the 2014-15 season with a distribution accuracy of 69 per cent—a figure a cut above the Premier League's other leading goalkeepers, Thibaut Courtois and Joe Hart.

If there remains a weakness to the Spaniard's game, it's his relative lack of strength when contesting for the ball from crosses and set pieces. Shorter and lighter than Courtois and Hart, De Gea can't command his penalty area with the same physicality, and instead protects his goal with reactionary saves.

According to the Spanish broadcaster TVE, De Gea will be joining Real Madrid imminently.