The transfer market usually throws up surprising and unexpected moves. Demonstrations of power by one club or another and operations conditioned by the moment of teams that need to recover what was lost in the previous campaign, something that is happening in this window, created by FIFA to encourage the Club World Cup, with the prominence of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid’s case with Franco Mastantuono perfectly sums up what this frenetic start to the market is all about. The club has gone to the market as it rarely does, with urgency and necessity, to reinforce what they did not see necessary to do in the two previous transfer windows. Alexander Arnold’s operation is not counted, as it comes from afar, but the movements around Alvaro Carreras, still to be defined, and especially that of the Argentine talent of River Plate, in which all the assets of the club have been put to work. From the sporting direction, through the economic, and ending with the coach.
The situation is clear at the moment. River Plate is demanding the 45 million euro clause, money that PSG did not want to pay when a week ago it seemed to have reached a definitive agreement with the player. This was the moment when Real Madrid appeared again to convince Mastantuono, but they have not yet done the same with the Argentine club, which is waiting for news from Los Blancos in the coming hours.
Mastantuono was in the palm of Real Madrid’s hand a year ago. Discrepancies with the agents and the increase in the clause, which went from 15 to 45 million euros, closed the door on the Argentine. The interest was reborn three weeks ago, when the player’s representatives showed up in Madrid with a very different attitude to that shown a year ago. From denying any possibility of his arrival, they went to more than reasonable doubt, with the argument of what is being demonstrated on the field by a 17-year-old.
After a few days of internal debate, Real Madrid moved in exactly the same way as it did two years ago with Guler. Juni Calafat travelled to Buenos Aires, in order to get the player’s approval. The rival was PSG, who have seen how in the midst of the celebrations for winning the Champions League, they may have lost a player singled out by Luis Enrique as a potential signing.
PSG will not stand idly by, losing Mastantuono and more to Real Madrid is not to Al Khelaifi’s liking. The problem he will face is that the player has shown his desire to wear white, for which the presence of Real Madrid’s international director and the call, as reported by ‘Cadena Ser’, of Xabi Alonso, a tactic that the white club has been using in recent years, as did Ancelotti with some of the signings made in previous seasons.
Mastantuono promised River Plate to continue playing at the Monumental until December 31, with the aim of playing in the Club World Cup and the Copa Libertadores, but he also knows that these trains have to be boarded on the move. The 45 million euro clause exists and is what the Argentinean club is clinging to. From Valdebebas, they are studying ways to reduce or postpone it.
The relationship between the two clubs is perfect, as has been demonstrated by the presence of the president of River Plate in the Bernabeu box this season. The presence of the young player with the Argentine club in the World Cup seems guaranteed. It is true that he could take advantage of some precedent of a minor footballer with an Italian or French passport and who obtained the approval of FIFA, but it is not something simple and that can arrive with so little time ahead, since the deadline is June 10.
When a possible transfer mobilizes two entities like Real Madrid and PSG, the triumph of the club that gets the player in question goes beyond a simple signing and represents the success of one management over the rival. At Valdebebas, it took a long time to forget what happened last season, but now they are working hard to sign the latest great talent that Argentine soccer has produced.
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