Two of the Premier League’s giants, Manchester United and Chelsea are reported to be set to fight it out to land Real Madrid’s centre back, Pepe.
Pepe, who is also a regular in the Portuguese national team, is set to run out of a contract at Madrid in the next eighteen months and is not willing to put pen to paper to extend his contract until he is given a giant pay raise.
Jose Mourinho who has in the past admitted to being a fan of the player, has stated that despite the defender being as gifted as he is, there is a time to cross the line when a player gets out of hand. Pepe, who is apparently also the lowest paid player
on the Madrid roster, seems to want to play at the Spanish club for many years to come, but still feels like he is better than some of the other players on the team and as a result feels it is only fair for him to get a raise.
However the fact that he is demanding the same salary as some of the more senior players in the team, seems to have ticked off the manager and he is reported to be working on a deal to get rid of the player altogether.
Chelsea are rumoured to be eying in on the situation at the club rather closely and are reported to be ready to make a move for the player as soon as the January window opens, that is of course if United don’t manage to swoop him from under their noses.
Both Chelsea and United are currently in desperate need of reinforcements at the back. This is because the current back-line at both of these clubs is aging fast and they do not seem to have any replacements for the current star defenders amongst their ranks.
Pepe has had his difficulties over the last couple of seasons, but he is still one of the best defenders in the world at the moment. He has great awareness for the game and can often predict where his opponents are going to be attacking him from. This ability
with his naturally gifted talent of making some decisive tackles makes him one of the best at what he does.
However it seems like Madrid have become a little too tired of his off-field and occasional on-the-pitch antics and are looking to get rid of the player in January or by the end of the season at the most. Some experts are looking at this potential dumping
of the player as one of the biggest mistakes that Mourinho might make at the club, but at the same time are also siding with the manager as the modern day footballers want everything to go their way and someone needs to draw a line somewhere.
Nonetheless, if the Pepe does end up on the transfer market, then it is safe to say that the likes of Chelsea and United will be waiting with their cheque books, to rope in the player.
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