December 18, 2021 - The Spanish giants seek to reinforce their squad, even as current La Liga leaders and after a successful group stage in the Champions League. According to Spanish media, in addition to Mbappé and Haaland, the "whites" would also be interested in two Croatian players.

According to tportal.hr, the mythical club Real Madrid already has a list of potential signings for the next summer transfer window. The football world already knows that the ''Galáticos'' made an offer for Kylian Mbappé last summer, but in addition to trying again (considering that the PSG star can negotiate a free transfer from January 2022), they have also included the Norwegian Erling Haaland in their plans. Thus, Real Madrid seeks to unite both forwards with their current star, Vinicius Jr., to form a lethal trident.

However, at the club, they know that they must sign more than just forwards. Despite the good moment of Militao and Alaba as centre-backs, the departure of Sergio Ramos and Raphaël Varane has left the position with few variations. This is how Real Madrid has set its sights on RB Leipzig's center-back and ex-Dinamo from Zagreb, Josko Gvardiol. After very good seasons at the club in the Croatian capital, the young defender migrated to Germany and has quickly made a place for himself in Leipzig's defense. Furthermore, he is an undisputed starter in Zlatko Dalic's squad in the Croatian national team. It seems that Real Madrid would have liked that, despite his 19 years of age, Gvardiol has accumulated quite a few minutes of experience with both his clubs and the national team.

Another Croatian player listed as a potential signing for Real Madrid is Rennes midfielder, Lovro Majer. Majer, who also left Dinamo Zagreb last summer, seemed unable to find his place in the French team. However, in recent months, the young midfielder has shown a very good level, with impressive statistics: 4 assists and 1 goal in 10 games. Lovro surely caught the attention of many when on December 5, in a match against Saint Étienne in Ligue 1, he provided 3 assists for his teammate Martin Terrier, who scored a hat-trick. Majer's good form led Dalic, who did not call him up for EURO 2020 and left him on the provisional lists later, to finally decide to call him up for the qualifying games for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. On his debut, Majer scored two goals in the bulky 7-0 win against Malta. Real Madrid wouldn't think twice when it came to signing a Croatian midfielder, after the good memories and the success of players like Luka Modric or Mateo Kovacic. What is clear is that, after the bad moment of Isco or Hazard, Real Madrid is looking for a creative player in their midfield.

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May 25, 2021 - As has been communicated by Real Madrid and confirmed by the Croatian midfielder on his social networks, Luka Modrić has renewed his Real Madrid contract and will wear white for one more season, thus completing ten years with the team in 2022.

Marca.com announced in December 2020 that the renewal agreement had already been closed and that it would become official once the season was over. Luka Modrić will continue for one more season, although without knowing who will be his last coach before the imminent departure of Zinedine Zidane from Real Madrid. The Spanish team has a renewal policy in which it can only renew its players over 30 years of age for an additional year, but this has not been an impediment to Modrić, who had previously communicated his plans to retire at Real Madrid.

The renewal agreement does not include a salary improvement (due among other things to the financial situation of the club), but Florentino Pérez considered it appropriate to retain the Croatian midfielder as he is one of the best players in the team and that, despite not achieving a title this season, he showed great performance throughout it.

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A post shared by Luka Modric (@lukamodric10)

Modrić arrived in 2012, from Tottenham, and despite not having the immediate support of Madrid fans, who doubted his signing, the Croatian midfielder became a legend of the team, standing out for his dedication both in the attack when scoring and assisting in decisive goals, and in his defensive duties as well. He has won four Champions League titles with Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018), two Spanish La Liga titles, among other local and European competitions.

During his time in the team, Modrić was trained by various coaches: Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Zinedine Zidane, Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari. To this day, and at 35 years old, the Croatian continues to be the undisputed starter in the midfield of the Spanish team, proving not only that he still maintains his great footballing level, but that he is also in a great physical condition.

Currently, the captain of the Croatia national team has his sights set on EURO 2020, to be played in June. Today he will join the rest of those selected by Zlatko Dalić, but the Zadar-born midfielder could not hide his joy by sharing a post on his social media posing with the Real Madrid jersey and thus confirming his renewal for an additional season. ''Happy and proud to continue wearing the shirt of the best team in the world", he wrote on his social networks.

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