Man Utd in ‘new Rodri’ battle with Real Madrid

Manchester United scouts have been “wowed” by Stuttgart midfielder Chema Andres, but Real Madrid could make life difficult for his suitors.

The 20-year-old joined the Bundesliga side in the summer and proved to be an instant success. Just a few games into his Stuttgart career, Chema supplanted club captain Atakan Karazor and pushed him to the bench.

This was quite remarkable considering how important Karazor had been to Stuttgart’s recent success under head coach Sebastian Hoeness. Given Chema’s age and price tag – he had only cost €3 million – the Swabians appeared to have unearthed a real gem.

However, the development of a young player is seldom straightforward, and there have been dips in the midfielder’s form over the course of the season. This is perfectly normal for a 20-year-old in his first year of top-flight football.

He dropped out of the starting XI after Stuttgart suffered chastening back-to-back losses to Bayern (5-0) and promoted Hamburg (2-1), and has only won back his place over the last couple of weeks, rotating with Karazor and Angelo Stiller as Stuttgart attempt to juggle three competitions.

Man Utd impressed by Andres

Overall, Chema has enjoyed a hugely promising campaign, which hasn’t gone unnoticed. In recent weeks, it has been claimed that Real Madrid want to bring him back in the summer. They can do so by exercising a €13.5m buy-back clause.

However, Los Blancos are not the only club who have been paying close attention to his development. TEAMtalk claims that Chema has also caught the eye of Man Utd scouts.

This is entirely unsurprising considering that the Red Devils have been tracking the aforementioned Stiller for some time. Naturally, scouts will have noticed the impressive performances of his younger midfield partner, who is being compared to Rodri and Sergio Busquets.

The existence of Real Madrid’s buy-back clause complicates matters for Chema’s suitors because it means that the Spanish giants ultimately control his future. As with most Castilla graduates, Chema dreams of playing for the first team.

Man Utd and his other admirers will only have a chance at signing him if Real Madrid decide against exercising their clause. In that scenario, he would not necessarily be a bargain – Stuttgart showed with the Nick Woltemade deal that they can be tough negotiators – but he may not be outrageously expensive.

That is because Stuttgart would pocket the entirety of his fee. In order to get the Bundesliga side to agree to that cheap buy-back clause, Real Madrid had to abstain from including a sell-on clause and, in fact, had to concede one to Stuttgart. If Real Madrid bring Chema back and sell him, Stuttgart would receive 50% of the fee.

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