Real Madrid is through waiting, unless the player is at a Kylian Mbappé level, the Spanish giants are going young and long term for their next major signings.
As was the case when Real Madrid signed Brazilian Endrick or Uruguay’s Federico Valverde, the idea was to scoop them while their young and not yet “legally” in reach of other European clubs.
Now according to La Pagina Millionaria, Real Madrid wants 16-year-old central midfielder Franco Mastantuono of River Plate, who at a young age has already seen first team action.
Profile on Franco Mastantuono
Franco Mastantuono is a creative attacking midfielder, who does a lot of damage down the middle of the park or on the wing. The young River Plate starlet has already had 1 goal in 9 professional matches and already looked deadly on freekick situations.
Mastantuono has exceptional ball control and is very impressive on dead ball situations, even more so than teammate and future Manchester City player Claudio Echeverri.
In order for Real Madrid to sign Mastantuono, they would need to pay for the transfer fee up front and wait until the young midfielder reaches 18 years of age.
A left-footed midfielder, Mastantuono was described by River Plate youth coach Martín Pellegrino as being capable of playing as an ‘enganche’, a play-making midfielder or a forward, noting his ball-striking ability.
River Plate has a transfer clause of 30 million euros on Mastantuono well below what Real Madrid officially paid for the services of Endrick.