MLS sensation Ricardo Pepi is a target for Premier League giants Liverpool but, speaking to 90Min, he’s admitted Real Madrid are his “dream” club.
That’s not to say, of course, that FC Dallas’ Texan-born talisman wouldn’t jump at the chance to cross the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge en route to Merseyside.
European champions in 2019 and Premier League champions in 2020, Liverpool are a force to be reckoned with right now, a 5-0 battering of Manchester United at Old Trafford the stand-out performance in a season already full to bursting with outstanding all-round displays.
And, with his 19th birthday in January, Pepi is still only taking the first steps on his footballing journey. There’s ample time for one of the game’s most exciting young strikers to don both the red of Liverpool and the white of Los Blancos.
Liverpool want Ricardo Pepi but ‘dream move’ would be Real Madrid
“That’s a fairly easy question,” Pepi said while mapping out his fantasy career.
“I always tell my parents and my agent my dream has always been to play for Real Madrid. Before I retire, I want to play a couple of years (at the Santiago Bernabeu).
“Not just months – I want to play at least three, four years at Real Madrid. I feel like that’s the top of the world. That would be amazing for me.”
Given that Real president Florentino Perez appears to have drawn a line under his ‘Galactico’ past in favour of a more long-term plan – the 13-time European champions have signed a host of teenagers including Martin Odegaard, Vinicius Jr, Reinier Jesus and Rodrygo Goes in recent years – it would be no surprise if Pepi had already registered on their radar.
According to CBS Sports, a “lethal” centre-forward who models his game on Robert Lewandowski is already attracting admiring glances from not just Liverpool but also Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, as well as perennial talent-spotters Ajax and Borussia Dortmund.
It’s understood, via 90Min, that Pepi has handed in a transfer request and has his heart set on leaving FC Dallas in January.
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