Real Madrid knew that competition was rife to afford the latest jewel of Argentine football. In the country, we talk about Franco Mastantuono (16 years old) as the future star of the country. The River Plate nugget, 18 professional appearances, already has 2 goals and 1 assist. Yesterday, Sport announced that an agreement had been reached between the Casa Blanca and the attacking midfielder on the terms of a contract. It remained to find an agreement with the Buenos Aires club, while the player has a release clause of €45 million.
The media warned yesterday. The recent winner of the Champions League had to work hard to get ahead of all of its competitors, starting with the Premier League. Real Madrid has made a specialty in recent years of recruiting very young in Brazil (Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Reiner, Endrick) and very expensive, even if it means waiting for one or two and the majority of its recruits to bring them to Spain . A little originality this time, it is with an Argentinian player that he tries it.
Manchester City joins the dance
But the Spanish management is not alone in this. Sport, definitely well informed on the subject, tells us this morning that Manchester City also took action, seeing that Real had a head start. The English club has the advantage of having greater resources, where the Merengues will not enter into a shallot race after having already recruited Mbappé. The Sky Blues would be willing to settle the release clause of €45 million without discussion where their competitors are reluctant.
Another advantage for Manchester City is that contacts with River Plate have been excellent for several years now. There was the transfer of Julian Alvarez in January 2022 for €21 million for an arrival six months later. Rebelote this year with the agreement concerning Claudio Echeverri (17 years old). The Argentine attacking midfielder has signed until 2028 but he will not arrive at the Etihad Stadium until next January, a year after his signing. City offers the same deal to River Plate, who are inevitably attracted by the idea of keeping the young Mastantuono for a few more months.
