Real Madrid have a stellar record when it comes to signing top talents from South America and developing them into regular first-team starters at Santiago Bernabeu. Names like Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Fede Valverde all fall under that category. Endrick is showing a ton of early promise as well, having already scored a couple of goals in the Royal White jersey and won a penalty in their recent game despite being limited to cameo appearances off the bench.
It is becoming more difficult for Real Madrid to sign South American players recently though. That is because other clubs are not following that same strategy.
Chelsea, for example, signed Estevao and Aaron Anselmino, two players who Real Madrid had been linked with as well. And now, it looks like another one of Los Blancos’ targets is drawing interest from the Premier League as well as in Spain.
As reported by TBR Football, Arsenal are keen to sign Franco Mastantuono but Real Madrid have already opened talks to sign the Argentine. Chelsea have been frequently scouting the River Plate midfielder with Barcelona keen as well.
Real Madrid open talks to sign Arsenal transfer target
It would be safe to say that Mastantuono is one of the most highly-rated talents in South American football right now. The 17-year-old has already made almost 30 appearances for River Plate.
If Real Madrid were able to sign him, it would fit perfectly into their transfer policy. But in recent times, we have mostly seen Premier League clubs win out when it comes to transfer races.
What might give Real Madrid a slight edge over the clubs in the Mastantuono transfer race is their proven record of successfully developing South American players. The other teams cannot bring that to the table. Now, let’s see what the future holds.