In June, we covered claims from Spain that Manchester City wanted to carry out an express deal for Franco Mastantuono and ‘blow up’ Real Madrid’s plans in the process.
Later that month, Sport reported the Premier League winners intend to ‘go all the way’ to sign the 17-year-old. The Citizens haven’t yet managed to agree a deal for him.
Wednesday’s edition of the same newspaper talks about Manchester City and the La Liga side’s interest in attacking midfielder.
They are focusing on River Plate youngsters Mastantuono, Claudio Echeverri, who was sold to Manchester City in January, and Felipe Esquivel.
With regards to Mastantuono, the Champions League winners seem to have some sort of an agreement. The newspaper mentions this and adds Los Blancos now have to close the deal.
The Argentina U20 international’s camp would prefer a move to Barcelona, but they can’t enter the race due to their own financial situation. This would leave Real Madrid and Pep Guardiola’s side battling for the teenager.
It’s claimed Real Madrid are ‘much more advanced’ than Manchester City in the transfer race. Sport add Carlo Ancelotti’s side aim to complete the operation before the season in Argentine ends in December.
Manchester City have allowed Echeverri to return to River Plate on loan. This deal would have helped the two clubs maintain a good relationship. Whether they can take advantage of that to get ahead of Real Madrid remains to be seen.
