Real Madrid accelerates for Mastantuono and takes advantage of Barcelona

In Europe they are fighting to take River’s youth player Franco Mastantuono and in River The alarms went off due to the interest of the real Madridwhich although it has not yet made any concrete offer, it did become a reality with the presence of the head of the scouting of the Spanish team in Buenos Aires.

The 16-year-old midfielder debuted with Martín Demichelis as coach of Millonario and last week he scored against Libertad in Paraguay for the Copa Libertadores.

As reported by the Spanish sports newspaper Sportin the White House they want to begin to mark the ground given the existence of other powerful European clubs interested in youth, such as Barcelona, ​​Manchester City and Chelsea.

“There have been two meetings between the Millonario and the white team, which had, in the first of them, the head of scouting, Juni Calafat, as the merengue interlocutor, where the interest in the ’10’ was transferred and, in the second, José Ángel Sánchez, general director of the club and executive arm of Florentino Pérez, has already taken the reins.”reports the aforementioned Spanish media.

For now, there was no formal offer to River, “but it could happen in the near future”reveals Sport.

Mastantuono’s release clause is €45 million euros, which could increase to €50 if the transfer is made in the last ten days of the transfer market. Real Madrid is keeping an eye on this player after closing the Brazilian Endrick for next season.

The most winning team in the Champions League throughout history has been making great signings at the South American level. In 2017 he hired Vinicius from Flamengo, in 2018 Rodrygo from Santos, in 2020 he returned to Flamengo for Reinier and in December 2022 he signed Endrick, who breaks it in Palmeiras.

“Meanwhile, Barça’s plan to buy time seems to be faltering, because everything can be precipitated in the coming weeks when the Blaugrana club does not have the financial muscle for this type of operations”adds the site.

At River, at the moment they have no intention of selling Mastantuiono and this was reflected in the statements of its president Jorge Brito before the renewal of the player’s contract: “No formal offers, but talks with people from important clubs who ask us about him. There is no intention today on the part of the club to transfer him. He is 16 years old, we want to enjoy him for much longer. We are happy with how he has been developing with his teammates. They speak well to me not only professionally, but also about what he is like as a person. He is a player with unique conditions and we must give him time for him to be what he is undoubtedly going to be.“.

I c they buy and wait for it

This intention of the River leadership would not be an impediment for Real Madrid, who already has a history with the Brazilian youth team. Endrick from Palmeiras, whom he signed in December 2022, in an operation that will amount to €72 million.

It is precisely this last signing, which Madrid would use as a parameter with Mastantuono. In the case of the “menino prodigy”, Verdao, the white club moved quickly to overcome the attacks of PSG and, mainly, Chelsea.

So, he had no qualms about closing his incorporation a year and seven months before he could arrive at the Bernabéu, which will happen next July when he has reached the age of majority.

In the case of Mastantuono, since he has an Italian passport, he could now make the leap to Spain. However, the scenario that seems most plausible is to remain in Argentine football to grow, for at least another year and a half.

Here Madrid could repeat a formula similar to the one applied with Endrick in which Palmeiras receives a bonus of €2.5 million for every 5 goals they score, thus incentivizing their presence on the field. In the case of the Argentine hookup, it would be much more logical to base it, for example, on criteria such as games played.