Kai Havertz was favoured to join Real Madrid over Chelsea before the COVID-19 outbreak ended his ambitions, Marca reports.
The Bayer Leverkusen starlet is set to a move to Stamford Bridge, after both clubs agreed a fee around £89million.
But Havertz could have been playing under Zinedine Zidane next season, if Coronavirus did not affect Los Blancos’ finances.
It is believed that Real’s plan was to snap up the highly-coveted Germany international this summer, but the club revealed in July that they would be quiet during the summer transfer window.
Havertz had reportedly snubbed interest from Bayern Munich, with his sights having been firmly set on working under Zinedine Zidane.
Real Madrid dropping out of the race, allowed Chelsea to steal in and land the 21-year-old.