River clear-out: where the six departing players could be heading | OneFootball

Several Madrid legends, including Enzo Pérez, will not continue with the Millonario and are looking for a new club. Some, like Nacho Fernández, already have their next team lined up.

After closing a “terrible” football year, Marcelo Gallardo took charge of the situation and carried out the anticipated squad overhaul at River: the six players whose contracts end in December will not renew and will leave as free agents, including several Madrid heroes, as the coach himself informed them.

This Friday, after saying goodbye to their teammates, Enzo Pérez, Ignacio Fernández, Milton Casco, Gonzalo Martínez, Miguel Borja, and Federico Gattoni will leave River Camp and begin a new chapter in their careers. What’s next for their careers? Some already have their next destination lined up, others are weighing several options, and there is one case that remains a mystery.

Enzo Pérez

Notified by Gallardo himself that he is not in the plans for 2026—an unexpected scenario given his role as leader and captain at River—the man from Mendoza is starting to consider other paths because he wants to keep playing. At 39, Estudiantes, the club he left at the end of 2024 to return to the Millonario, is once again on the radar as an option, but nothing is official yet. His story remains open-ended.

Ignacio Fernández

Knowing that his time at River had come to an end, Gimnasia picked up the phone and already has advanced talks to bring Nacho back. The 35-year-old left-footer would return to the club where he was born as a footballer, regardless of what happens in the November 29 elections at El Lobo.

Milton Casco

Gimnasia also seems to be the likely destination for the left-back, although in this case, since his departure from the Millonario came as a “surprise” to those around him, negotiations from La Plata have only just begun. The fact that Fernández will likely move to El Bosque carries weight and could lead Casco to follow in his footsteps, and at 37, he would look favorably on returning to where he started to close the cycle.

Miguel Borja

After more than three years at the club, 62 goals, and a history of ups and downs in his relationship with the fans, the Colombian’s time in Núñez has come to an end after much wear and tear and his role in the team becoming completely secondary. In the race to sign him are Tigres, one of the interested Mexican clubs, and also América de Cali. However, his agent, Juan Pablo Pachón, recently ruled out—for now—the possibility of him returning to his home country.

Gonzalo Martínez

Pity is the player whose future is most uncertain, mainly due to physical issues. Without playing time for more than two months due to successive muscle injuries—a situation that affected him throughout this last, and ultimately truncated, stint at River—there isn’t even a hint of where he might continue his career.

Federico Gattoni

With his loan finished, the defender who arrived at the request of Martín Demichelis in mid-2024 will leave River after a spell with virtually no prominence to return to Sevilla. This year, he only played 90 minutes under Gallardo. His stay was extended simply for economic reasons: if he had left in June, the Millonario would have had to pay nearly a million euros for ending the loan early.

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