Castello Lukeba will pay anyone interested a significant fee in the next transfer window.
The Bundesliga star has attracted a lot of interest from the Premier League of late, with the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool thought he was interested in his services.
The Blues, of course, may very well have something to say given that they have enjoyed a proportionally higher proportion of links in recent months.
However, none other than Spanish giants Real Madrid, if reports are to be believed.
RB Leipzig want to keep Castello Lukeba
Christian Falk reports that the RB Leipzig centre-back will cost €90m (£75.4m) and a January exit is now considered unlikely.
It is understandable, it must be said, with the player barely considered the finished product (far from it) at 21 years old.
“Leipzig know they cannot keep a player if a Premier League team is interested. We have many examples in the past – Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City), Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea) and Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool). They always do the same trick”, the German journalist reports for Caught offside Daily briefing.
“Castello Lukeba was under contract until 2028, so they have given him more money (he earns 6 million euros a year) and extended his terms until 2029. Now he has a release clause in his contract for value of 90 million euros. So if someone is willing to pay that, they can have it, but I don’t see anyone paying that amount of money right now.
“It has to be very good for someone to be big for his services in the summer window. For now, I think he’s safe in Leipzig with this ‘disability’ so to speak. They want to keep him. I don’t think it’s an issue for in the January transfer window.
“In the summer, if someone needs a brilliant defender and can pay that money, then I think things get interesting. Remember they extended Lukeba’s contract because Real Madrid were specifically interested, more than any other club in the Premier League”.
For Liverpool, one has to imagine sporting director Richard Hughes will look again at the Reds’ £75m deal for Virgil van Dijk in 2017.
It’s a different market, sure, but is the French defender’s value really comparable to the Merseysiders’ Dutch skipper seven years ago?
It will be a hard choice to justify for loosening the purse strings!
However, considering Chelsea and Real Madrid almost not only in their interestit wouldn’t be entirely unprecedented to see a major European team make the move for fear of missing out.
It seems unlikely that Liverpool will commit a large sum either in the next window or in the summer of 2025.
