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The saga surrounding Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou continues to make the rounds online, with Sevilla president Pepe Castro saying the club has received no offers for the Atlas Lion.
“Real Madrid? There’s nothing so far, no talks for Bono,” Fabrizio Romano, a sports journalist specialized in transfer news, quoted Castro as saying on Friday.
“The reality is that we have no offers or knowledge of any team’s interest in Bono,” Castro added.
The reveal of the non-interest in Bounou comes amid reports suggesting that Real Madrid is considering the Atlas Lion as one of its favorite options to replace starting keeper Thibaut Courtois, who caught a serious injury that will prevent him from playing for an entire season.
Many news outlets, particularly Marca and AS have been reporting that talks between Sevilla and Real Madrid started for the Atlas Lion’s potential transfer.
On August 10, Marca said that Real Madrid’s idea is to find a replacement without an excessive financial outlay.
The outlet further explained that “the first idea was even to find someone on loan, but as soon as the option of Sevilla’s goalkeeper arose, the spotlight was on the Moroccan.”
Some reports suggest that one of the challenges that could hamper a potential transfer is Bounou’s commitment to Morocco’s national team.
Morocco’s head coach Walid Regragui is certainly planning to call up Bounou as part of his Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) squad, which takes place in January, during the peak of the European football season.
“This means that they could miss up to 13 official matches,” Spanish news outlet AS said earlier this week, recalling that this also will depend on how far Morocco’s national team advances in the tournament.
The Spanish sports-focused website also said that Sevilla is asking for a minimum of 20 to 25 million euros for the Atlas Lion, recalling that Bounou previously rejected offers from Saudi clubs.
