Paulo Díaz could leave River and move to a foreign league | OneFootball

Without a place in River's current squad, Paulo Díaz is seeking new horizons. Although there is still no formal offer on the table, he has received several inquiries from Major League Soccer (MLS), and his next destination could be the United States. Neither the departure of Sebastián Boselli nor the difficulties in signing a central defender (the situation with Jhohan Romaña remains stalled) changed Marcelo Gallardo's stance.

The Chilean went from being considered one of the best defenders on the continent to being left out of the squad list for his team's decisive matches at the end of 2025. And even though he completed the entire preseason with the rest of the team, he wasn't even on the bench in the friendly match that the Núñez team won against Millonarios in Uruguay.

With two years left on his contract, the situation is not pleasant for either party. Everyone agrees that his cycle at the club is over after six and a half years and 214 matches with the red band, but his high salary and his economic and sporting demands have led to several approaches being dismissed. As it stands, he has been training with the rest of his teammates for over a month (between the end of 2025 and this preseason), but for now, without any chances of playing again.

At 31 years old and after some knee problems, Paulo Díaz seeks to remain at the top continental level. However, no elite clubs have shown interest, and thus the prospect of moving to the United States gains strength as the days go by. Approached from Saudi Arabia, the defender is not willing to live in such a different culture again, especially with two young children.

Gallardo did not exclude him from the group and took him to all the preseason stages, probably to prevent his value from significantly decreasing. River aims to receive around three million dollars to let him go, a figure that seems unjust to the player's caliber but is explained by the club's need to offload one of the highest contracts on the team.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.