Another battle before the Champions League final on Saturday.
Real Madrid and Liverpool are the two clubs in the best position to sign Monaco's prodigy - Orleans Chomani this summer, sources told ESPN.
As early as January it was reported that Madrid was monitoring Chomani's progress, seeing the signing of a defensive midfield as a top priority.
Madrid have also received positive messages about their chances of signing Ryan Grabenbach from Ajax but are now getting closer to Bayern Munich.
Real sent its chief scout, a trusted adviser to President Florentino Perez, to Monaco in January to lay the groundwork for the move.
Federico Valverda and Eduardo Camavinga played well in the second half of the season, but Real are still aware of the need to refresh their midfield which is still based on Casimiro (30), Luca Modric (36) and Tony Cross (32).
Real see Chomani as a long-term replacement for Kasmiro.
However, further reports in Europe say that the Spanish champions will have to fight Liverpool for the signing of the player who is worth 50 million euros.
Mighty Reds coach Jürgen Klopp is also looking for young midfielders who can man the center-back of the English runner-up for years to come and even agreed to a pay cut when he signed a contract extension two weeks ago so he can bring a satisfactory purchase to the club.
A third rib that is also in the picture is PSG.
Following the signing of Killian Ambape for another 3 years, the team's big star from the City of Lights sent messages to the team's owners that he was interested in seeing his friend land in the Parc de France.
Ambepa insisted on building a new project as part of his decision to stay and sees Chumani as a necessary reinforcement in midfield.
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