Report: Real Madrid Eyes Transfer for Zenit Star Leandro Paredes
Real Madrid are being linked with promising Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Leandro Paredes, but any deal for the Argentine international seems unlikely to happen until the summer transfer window.
Florentino Perez has become known for his lack of January transfer activity in recent years, making a move for Paredes unlikely until the summer. Mundo Deportivo have highlighted that since Perez was re-elected in the summer of 2009, Los Blancos have only ever signed three players during the winter transfer window.
Emmanuel Adebayor joined on loan from Manchester City in January 2011 and was a short-term success for Real, while goalkeeper Diego Lopez arrived for a second spell from Sevilla in 2013.
Real's most recent January signing was Brazilian midfielder Lucas Silva in 2015, a player who featured only sparingly and has since been loaned to Marseille and former club Cruzeiro.
Earlier successful January signings at Real - Gonzalo Higuain and Marcelo - were the work of Perez's presidential predecessor, Ramon Calderon.
AS carries information of Real's supposed interest in Paredes, a player who learned his trade at Bocia Juniors before moving to Europe with Chievo and making a name for himself at Roma.
It is said that Madrid's planned offer for the versatile rising star would total €35m, and would also include Croatian international Mateo Kovacic heading in the opposite direction.
Kovacic is of course already known to Zenit boss Roberto Mancini after the two worked together at Inter Milan during the 2014/15 campaign. But the 23-year-old is reportedly not keen on playing in Russia, representing a potential problem for any proposal he is a part of.
