Unfortunately, Real Madrid faced a big problem at the beginning of the season: the injury of Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian has torn his anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the entire season, practically, forcing the Whites to strengthen themselves in the final phase of the transfer market.
In those places, they looked for a goalkeeper in the same market. Real Madrid considered Kepa Arrizabalaga as their first choice, but they also had several names on the agenda and experimented with some. One of those names was Yacine Bounou, Bono, who was at Sevilla and was looking for a boost in his career after being one of the best goalkeepers in the World Cup.
Bono himself admitted that he was one step away from signing for Real Madrid. “I was in contact with Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. I was one of the available options for these clubs.”
“In football, it doesn’t depend on me alone. Al Hilal was my choice in the end,” Bono himself recently admitted in an interview in which he reviewed his current situation in Saudi Arabia after signing for the same team that ended up sealing the deal to sign Neymar Jr. in the summer.
There was no offer
Interest in Bono is real, but Real Madrid have always considered Kepa Arrizabalaga their first choice. The various Madrid leaders chose to sign the Basque goalkeeper, above any other option, and made it clear that there would be no other offer.
“We have not received any offer from Real Madrid for Bono. The only official offer came from Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal,” Sevilla said officially, stressing that there had been no attempt to sign the Moroccan goalkeeper from the Santiago Bernabeu.
