Fiorentina use Real Madrid friendly to advance Franco Mastantuono pursuit | OneFootball

Real Madrid are set to play their first friendly of the preseason today. The Merengue team has already travelled to the Austrian city of Klagenfurt, where they will be facing Fiorentina in what would be the first real test for Jose Mourinho’s side.

Los Blancos published their squad for this game yesterday, and one of the most notable aspects of this list was the absence of the forward Franco Mastantuono. After having played in the two training games in the last week, the Argentine was not named in this list to protect him from any risk of injury when he is close to leaving the club on loan.

However, his loan destination is still not finalized. Three Italian teams have shown an interest in him in recent days, including the Merengues’ rivals in the upcoming friendly, Fiorentina. In fact, Diario AS claims that the Serie A side is looking to use the friendly in Klagenfurt as an opportunity for talks with Real Madrid about the young forward’s signing.

Two top executives from the Italian club, the sporting director Fabio Paratici and the general manager Alessandro Ferrari, are going to travel to Austria on this occasion, and they will be looking to accelerate the process of Mastantuono’s signing.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid are also keen to complete this operation as soon as possible, which is clear from his absence from the squad list for today’s game.

The player’s agent has been pushing for a return to River Plate, but the Merengues have ruled this option out, as they want the player to continue playing in Europe. Although Fiorentina will not be participating in the Champions League next season, one aspect that can make them attractive to the Argentine is that they can offer him significant playing time in the attacking midfield position.

Ultimately, both Real Madrid and Franco Mastantuono will mutually decide what his next destination is going to be, and a decision in this regard is expected soon.