Fiorentina Beat Roma and Milan for Real Madrid Prodigy | OneFootball

Roma and Milan might have contemplated acquiring Franco Mastantuono, but Fiorentina were the only Serie A club to open talks with Real Madrid. They eventually sealed the deal, as the talent is in town to finalize the transfer, Mediaset reports.

After debating the formula, the Argentinian playmaker is moving with the simplest one, a straight loan, with the Viola contributing to half of his €3.5M salary. Real Madrid will settle with protecting their previous €63M investment.

Fiorentina and Les Merengues have also come to a sort of gentleman’s agreement that would allow Mastantuono to stay put if the Gigliati qualified for a European competition, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs. The 18-year-old made 35 appearances in his first campaign in Spain, but started only 15 times and logged about 1400 total minutes, scoring thrice. Instead, he had posted 10 goals and 7 assists in 64 matches with River Plate.

A return to Argentina could have been on the table, but Real Madrid were adamant that he continued in Europe. The Viola won the race by guaranteeing regular playing time. They have been looking for attackers throughout the summer. Fabio Grosso is thinking about tweaking his 4-3-3 into a 4-3-2-1 to better accommodate all the talented pieces at his disposal.

Our Take on Fiorentina Nabbing Mastantuono

He arguably should have done this step before heading to a super-duper team. It’s a sound solution for everybody involved, while this kind of deal wouldn’t have looked too good for teams at Roma and Milan’s level. Then, you never know what could happen in the future if he’s particularly comfortable and fares well, and director Fabio Paratici is never shy when it comes to wheeling and dealing.