Towards the end of June, there were reports in Spain detailing Real Zaragoza’s ‘outrage’ at Manchester United for targeting one of their best young players.
We covered Spanish claims that Mateo Mejía had already said goodbye to his teammates and was ready for a new stage of his development in England.
Real Zaragoza released a statement saying: ‘Given the information in the United Kingdom about the Real Zaragoza cadet footballer Mateo Mejía and the interest of Manchester United for his signing, Real Zaragoza wants to clarify the following:
Mateo Mejía is a footballer who belongs to the discipline of Real Zaragoza in the Cadet category, linked to the Club with a federative card until June 30, 2020.
Real Zaragoza has not reached any agreement for the transfer of this player to Manchester United.’
El Periodico de Aragon, local to the Spanish club, reported at the time that ‘everything indicated’ the move was set to happen.
In Manchester United’s case, it would be UEFA, and not Zaragoza, would would decide the fee, with an estimate put at €120-150k.
A few weeks later, El Periodico de Aragon reported Mejía was already in England. At that time it was thought the two clubs would be able to come to an agreement, avoiding a UEFA ruling.
That appears to have been the case, and this week El Periodico de Aragon report the amount as €150k.
Now fully signed up with Manchester United, the forward is said to be the youngest player among the club’s U18 group.
He scored more than 60 goals last season for Real Zaragoza, which shows why they’ve been so sorry to lose him.
