Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.
It’s been a busy week in Spanish football, and it’s only set to get busier, as an extra Clasico and an extra Madrid derby were added to the calendar. And then there’s Kylian Mbappe.
Real Madrid drew Atletico Madrid away in the Copa del Rey, meaning it will be three derbies in three weeks, including the one next week, and the one at the start of February in La Liga. If it’s anything like the 5-3 thriller in the Spanish Supercup on Wednesday, the locals are in for a treat.
Which they didn’t see up close, because the Supercup is in Saudi Arabia – the Gulf state pay the Spanish Football Federation €40m to host a four-team tournament in Riyadh. Much to the chagrin of Spanish fans, who were befuddled by the booing of Toni Kroos, and the booing of Franz Beckenbauer during a minute’s silence for the recently departed great.
Real Madrid’s reward is Barcelona on Sunday night, after the ailing Catalans struggled to a 2-0 win over Osasuna. If there was one silver lining for Atletico Madrid, it is that Antoine Griezmann became their record goalscorer, surpassing Luis Aragones and moving onto 174 goals.
Antoine Griezmann – All-time top scorer for #AtleticoMadrid pic.twitter.com/1yUZBhrdcg
— Football España (@footballespana_) January 11, 2024
Real Madrid are on the hunt for a striker themselves. The lines coming out of Madrid is that they want Mbappe, but not too much. We’re not sure if they’re trying to play it cool, but there have been multiple rumours about Victor Osimhen of Napoli too, and Erling Haaland, who Jude Bellingham is reportedly trying to recruit. The upshot is that nothing has changed, but Madridistas may have to strap themselves in for another round of the game.
Barcelona may as well bring Jorge Mendes on board as part of their staff, as they have started setting the super-agent tasks to sell their star players. The Blaugrana are still after a central midfielder this winter, but first have to chase up one of their economic levers – which they have been trying to do for 18 months. If they could afford him, they’d quite like Everton’s Amadou Onana. They may just be happy to hang onto their stars, with Bayern Munich looking to spend €100m on Ronald Araujo.
Maybe the striker Real Madrid need was under their noses all this time? Former academy product Borja Mayoral is back in the city at Getafe, and surprisingly is La Liga’s joint-second top scorer this season. Arsenal seem to think he is of use, and have submitted a bid for Mayoral.
Elsewhere Girona are furious as one of their veterans David Lopez being hit with a four-game ban for calling a referee arrogant in October, the suggestion being they’re getting a little too close to Real Madrid at the top of the table. Sevilla have also signed Inter midfielder Lucien Agoume on loan with an option to buy, and Villarreal have loaned Ben Brereton Diaz to Sheffield United. The reason being they wanted to bring in Eric Bailly on a free, and are now looking to go after Wolves’ Goncalo Guedes too, who is currently on loan at Benfica.
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