Former Real Madrid chief Ramon Calderon believes the Spanish giants will not be able to afford to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
The England international has been the subject of transfer speculation linking him with a move to the Bernabeu at the end of the season.
Kane, 27, is said to be a cheaper alternative for Madrid compared with in-demand duo Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland with both players potentially fetching around £150m in transfer fees alone.
And when asked about the prospect of Zinedine Zidane signing Kane for Madrid this summer, Calderon effectively ruled out the switch.
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“There are always rumours at this time of the season,” he said on TalkSport. “They are talking about Mbappe, Haaland… too many players.
“We [Madrid] are not in the best form economically-speaking because we are refurbishing our stadium spending a lot of money.
“It will be difficult to spend money in the summer. We always try to sign good players, we’ve been doing that for years.”
Kane is set to be in demand once again this summer as the top clubs in Europe aim to bolster their strikeforce.
His future could well depend on how well Tottenham finish the season.
Jose Mourinho’s were dumped out of the Europa League recently by Dinamo Zagreb and are battling hard for a top-four finish in the Premier League to secure a spot in next season’s Champions League.