Madrid 2023: Real Building A Scary New Team

WITH the addi on of Jude Bellingham, and expected signing of Kylian Mbappe, los Blancos are construc ng another winning team ahead of the new season.

That of Jude Bellingham sorted, then. Real Madrid are set to officially announce the signing of the best young midfielder in world football, bringing in the 19-year-old for an ini al €103 million (£88m/$110m).

A er taking a measured approach to player recruitment for a few years, Madrid are back with another marquee signing.

And, remarkably, this could just be the start of a special window for Floren no Perez.

Kylian Mbappe could be on his way to the Spanish capital this summer a er telling PSG that he does not plan on signing a contract extension.

The star forward now has only one year le on his deal, and the Parisians have insisted that they will sell him if he refuses to commit his longterm future to the club.

This has all been set up perfectly for Madrid to swoop in. Mbappe won’t come cheap, but Real have always wanted him - a feeling that is very much mutual.

The fact that Karim Benzema departed for the Saudi Pro League two weeks ago makes Mbappe a necessity, too. This summer will be both busy and expensive, then. But this is Real Madrid. The spending will con nue next year.

The Galac co concept has died off at this point - the glitzy side Perez put together during his first spell at the Sanago Bernabeu didn’t actually win that many trophies. But the concept of making one big signing every summer seems to be back.

Olawale noted, “The last me those of us represen ng Osun State got an award was in 2012, and it doesn’t give us mova on. Other states are not like that. For example, in Ogun State, whenever they (athletes) come back from any compe on, the state government will award the athletes as a sign of encouragement.

“Most of us here, especially, persons with disabili es, do not have any other thing we are doing except sport, but, unfortunately, those begging for alms in the street are almost be er than us. Since 2012 when former governor Rauf Aregbesola gave us an award, we haven’t received any other.

“Nobody recognised us for all the championships we have par cipated in. We are just working without any encouragement. We want restructuring in our sports council. The kits we are using to train are the ones we have been using since the old Oyo State.

“Our lives as athletes are not safe because the stadium we used in training welcomes everybody and there is no proper security for us.

“We don’t have good facili es and enough equipment. Some mes, we sponsored ourselves to compe ons. We want posi ve and total restructuring.”