Denis Cheryshev is one step away from returning to Villarreal

Denis Cheryshev is very close to concluding his return to Villarreal. The coastal club and Real Madrid spent most of last week discussing terms and while the capital side's demands could best be described as exorbitant, the two parties have come closer to reaching an agreement over the past couple of days after Villarreal put in a revised bid. Under the terms of the arangement, Madrid would retain one portion of the player's economic rights and have included a clause to reimburse los blancos if they decide to transfer the player during the duration of Cheryshev's contract; Villarreal meanwhile will recover one of the key figure in Marcelino's 2014-15 team (he played a total of 2,553 minutes, scored seven and created another 10 goals in 40 games).

Cheryshev, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, was a priority on Marcelino's summer shopping list. Villarreal attempted to sign the midfielder on loan in the last winter transfer window, but after the disastrous decision to field the player in a Copa del Rey tie when he was suspended, Madrid blocked any move back to El Madrigal. Florentino blamed Villarreal for not informing Madrid that Cheryshev had picked up a one-game ban in the Cup competition whilst on loan in Vila-real the previous season and after that, the relationship between both clubs soured. In the end Cheryshev joined Valencia on a six-month loan. In recent months Madrid and Villarreal appear to have patched things up and the relationship between the two is back to normal.

Another name on the table during the past week has been that of Diego Llorente. Villarreal are interesting in taking the player, who played in mutiple defensive roles while he was at Castilla (as centre-back and in both of the full-back positions); he was a regular under Paco Jémez during his year-long loan at Rayo last season. Llorente views Villarreal as a side who are serious aspirants to make it through to this season's Champions League but he is also being tracked by Espanyol. Talks between Madrid and Villarreal for both players are set to continue this week.