Manchester City's resilience to keep Raheem Sterling will be tested in the summer after it has emerged that Real Madrid want to sign him.
The Daily Mirror reports that the 24-year-old winger has been identified as one of Zinedine Zidane's targets, with the Spanish club ready to spend big in order to overhaul the current squad.
Los Blancos have been connected with the City ace in the past, with the club even scouting him last summer.
Zizou is also a big fan of Sterling, having admitted in 2015 that the club were "monitoring him as a player."
Sterling has been in excellent form for the reigning Premier League champions this season, which has received the highest of praises from England boss Gareth Southgate.
"The thing that stands out with Raheem, and we worked with him briefly with the U21s before he moved up quickly with Roy [Hodgson], is that he's so tenacious," he told talkSPORT.
"His recovery from setbacks and his resilience to keep proving people wrong, or responding in the right way to those challenges, is incredible.
"He's gone to a big club [Liverpool] when he was very young, dealt with that and got himself in the first team, then made a big move with a big profile to Manchester City and dealt with that.
"New players have been signed every summer [at City] and he might be thinking his place is under threat and he's come through that. He keeps responding to those challenges and he's still only 24 years old.
"Given his age, you're constantly learning the game, but at 24 you're still learning new things and you can see with the areas that he gets into now, he's more confident in front of goal.
"He's working with a fantastic coach [Pep Guardiola] at his club and those things will only improve him.
"He's had a phenomenal season and he's got to be one of the candidates for player of the season."
City will want to keep hold of the England international and would have a strong hand in blocking his move, considering that Sterling signed a new deal in November that would keep him at the club until 2023.
Earlier this week, the 46-year-old Frenchman returned to Madrid and replaced Santiago Solari as head coach.
As part of his return, the Los Blancos uppers are reportedly ready to open the club's war chest and hand Zidane £300m to spend on transfers.
The Madrid boss has wasted no time in making his first signing in his second stint, acquiring the services of Éder Militão from Porto on Thursday for £42.7m (€50m).
Chelsea duo N'Golo Kanté and Eden Hazard have also emerged as targets for Madrid, while other reports suggest that the club are already working on Zizou's second signing.
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