Real Madrid has signed the River Plate star Franco Mastanuono, the Laliga Club announced.
Mastanuono, 17, is with River in the United States for the Club World Cup and will join Madrid in August.
ESPN previously reported that Madrid was about to conclude an agreement for the teenager playmaker, with just the payment structure and the player’s arrival date, to be determined.
Madrid had followed the Argentinian international for two years, as well as a number of other European clubs.
The interest of the Giants of Laliga has cooled for a while, but they quickly moved this month when Paris Saint-Germain threatened to conclude an agreement for its signature.
Mastanuono, who prioritized a move to Madrid despite this approach to PSG, was 18 years old on August 14, 2025.
It was the player’s preference to play to river at the club World Cup, to help alleviate his departure, before joining Madrid.
Mastanuono is the third signature of Madrid of the summer – after Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander -Arnold were both presented – while they are looking to bounce back after a difficult season where they failed to win a major trophy and were beaten four times by his Barcelona rival.
The club and the new coach Xabi Alonso believe that Mastantuono will be an immediate asset for the first team, assessing their vision and capacity of the sets, and they have received positive relationships on his personality and his attitude in recent months.
Mastanuono scored four goals and provided four assists for the river in 12 appearances in the first phase of the Argentinian first division this year.
He made his debut in Argentina in its own right this month, leaving the bench in their 1-0 World Cup qualification victory against Chile.
