Awful, Real Madrid are going to rob Liverpool of their next superstar

Real Madrid look all but certain to rob Liverpool of someone who could be their next superstar. There may be no way to fight back.

Real Madrid have a knack for ruining Liverpool transfer plans. Sometimes that's swooping in to sign a player from Liverpool, like Trent Alexander-Arnold or Ibrahima Konate.

Or, more usually, it's them signing someone that the Reds have spent quite some time working on a deal for. You can actually look at half their first-team to find such players, from Aurelien Tchouameni to Kylian Mbappe to Jude Bellingham to Eduardo Camavinga to...

You get the picture.

But now there's a new and fascinating way that they could ruin a transfer plan. Robbing Liverpool of their big Virgil van Dijk replacement.

Jacobo Ramon is the one to watch

There are few players we're higher on than Jacobo Ramon. Our Value Adder data model rates him as one of the most outstanding defenders in Europe last season at just 21 - and he looks even better this term.

Ramon was fantastic again this week as Como thrashed RC Lens 9-1 in the UEFA Champions League. He led the match for defensive actions, won all of his duels, picked up an assist, and played a truly ridiculous 18 line-breaking passes from centre-back.

It's enough that we've got him down as the ideal replacement for Virgil van Dijk - a player who needs signing very soon. Whether Van Dijk renews his contract or not.

But there's a problem. The more impressive Ramon looks, the more likely it is that Real Madrid simply trigger their buyback clause and use him for themselves.

We're still crossing our fingers that they'll sell once they pay that €9m clause next summer. They've invested in Konate and Dean Huijsen, after all, which opens the door to a sale for big money.

And given this is a player Liverpool were reportedly 'blown away' by earlier this year, we think the Reds would be happy to pay big money for him. We're begging them to.

Ramon feels like a generational centre-back, much as Van Dijk did back in 2017. Signing him with the promise of replacing an all-time great surely seduces him, too, let alone the promise of playing alongside Jeremy Jacquet long-term.

But as we say, Real Madrid hold the cards here and they're on course to rob Liverpool of this signing before it's even off the ground.