Real Madrid claim they are close to capturing Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro from Juventus.
The Spanish giants are looking to rebuild after three years without a trophy and, having last week appointed former Juve boss Fabio Capello as their new coach, are now hoping to raid the Italian champions for the 32-year-old Cannavaro.
Pedja Mijatovic, Real's new sports director, told the club's website: "We've made good headway in getting him here and we're going to continue trying hard. I'm sure there will be some news in the next few days.
"I can appreciate that Cannavaro was a huge reason why Juve won two Scudetti and why Italy won the World Cup."
Juventus, who on Monday appointed former Chelsea midfielder Didier Deschamps as their new coach, are currently embroiled in a match-fixing trial with the prosecution recommending they be relegated to Serie C.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)