River Plate youngster Mastantuono will transfer to Real Madrid
Argentine midfielder Franco Mastantuono is set to join Real Madrid from River Plate after agreeing to a six-year contract.
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Mastantuono signs with Real Madrid
Madrid announced earlier this month that Mastantuono will join them in August when he turns 18.
For now, Mastantuono is with River Plate at the Club World Cup as they prepare to play Inter Milan in Seattle on Wednesday.
The playmaker revealed that his conversation with coach Xabi Alonso convinced him to join the LaLiga club.
“The way [Alonso] spoke to me was incredible,” Mastantuono said, in an interview with DAZN. “I’m grateful to him for it, for the way he was with me. Our talk influenced me a lot.”
“If the coach wants you, it’s a vote of confidence for a player. Leaving a big club like River isn’t easy, so his words motivated me a lot to take that leap.”
Madrid moved quickly to sign the teenager, beating Paris Saint-Germain in the bidding war.
“We all know what [Real Madrid] is,” Mastantuono said. “It’s a dream to play there. It’s a nice challenge for me.”
“For me, Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world, the team that’s won the most [trophies] in Europe. Any player would want to play there. It’s a dream, I want to enjoy it.”
Alonso has high praises
A product of River’s youth system, Mastantuono is already a record-breaker — he’s the youngest scorer in the club’s history and the youngest player to debut for Argentina’s national team.
Mastantuono is Madrid’s third signing this summer, after Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
However, he wanted to play for River at the Club World Cup before joining Madrid.
Alonso has described Mastantuono as “a boy with a fantastic present and an incredible future.”
“The maturity he has on the field, he brings off the field too,” Alonso said last week. “When I spoke to him I saw his ambition, his maturity.
“In August he’ll be with us, and he’ll be an important addition to the squad.”
