Al-Ittihad eye up €60m Real Madrid star after losing N'Golo Kante to Fenerbahce

The Saudi Pro League transfer market is gearing up for another blockbuster summer, with Al-Ittihad leading the charge. The Jeddah-based club has found itself with a significant void in midfield following the departure of N'Golo Kante. The veteran Frenchman, who was a marquee signing for the league, cut his stay in the Middle East short to join Fenerbahce in Turkey after the deal initially fell apart.

Kante’s exit leaves Al-Ittihad without their engine room general, and the club’s hierarchy is wasting no time in identifying a successor. According to reports, they have set their sights on a player who is not only a compatriot of Kante but widely regarded as one of the best young midfielders on the planet: Real Madrid’s Camavinga.

The club are looking for a marquee name to reassure fans that their ambition remains undimmed. Replacing a World Cup winner with one of the most exciting talents in European football would certainly send a message to their rivals, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr. 

While prying a player of Camavinga’s calibre away from Madrid seems an impossible task on paper, Al-Ittihad believe there is an angle to exploit. Since arriving from Rennes in 2021, Camavinga has won every trophy available in club football, including the Champions League and La Liga. However, his individual status within the squad remains a point of contention.

The 23-year-old has often found himself rotated in and out of the starting XI, a situation that has persisted through the tenures of Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and now current boss Alvaro Arbeloa. With Arbeloa only taking the reins in January following Alonso's dismissal, the hierarchy at Madrid is still in a state of transition. The fierce competition in the engine room, featuring Aurelien Tchouameni, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham, means Camavinga is not always the first name on the team sheet, having started just nine games in La Liga this season and three in the Champions League.

Furthermore, his versatility has sometimes been a curse, with the Frenchman frequently deployed as a makeshift left-back rather than in his preferred central midfield role. Al-Ittihad hope that the promise of being the undisputed star of the team, playing in his favoured position every week, could turn the player's head.

To make the deal happen, Al-Ittihad are reportedly ready to make a sizeable offer to test Madrid’s resolve. While the player is valued highly at at least €60 million, the Saudi club have the resources to pay a transfer fee that would make president Florentino Perez sit up and take notice.

More importantly, they are prepared to offer Camavinga a salary that would dwarf his current earnings in Spain. The strategy is similar to the one that lured Gabri Veiga to Al-Ahli in 2023; targeting younger, elite talent rather than just veterans looking for a final payday.

Real Madrid, for their part, are protected by a contract that runs until 2029 and a release clause set at €1 billion. However, as seen in previous windows, if a player expresses a genuine desire to leave and the offer is right, the Spanish giants have a policy of not keeping unhappy players against their will.

The potential departure of Camavinga would nonetheless be a shock to the system at the Bernabeu. The club spent years curating a midfield designed to dominate for a decade, moving on from the legendary trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. Camavinga is a significant pillar of that succession plan.

However, the report suggests that Al-Ittihad are serious and persistent. If Camavinga feels his development is stalling due to rotation, or if he becomes frustrated with being utilised in defence, the summer window could become a testing period for Madrid’s resolve.

For now, Camavinga remains a Madrid player, but with Kante gone and Al-Ittihad armed with a limitless budget and a vacancy to fill, the rumours surrounding the Frenchman’s future are unlikely to quieten down anytime soon.