Chelsea face uphill battle to beat Real Madrid to left-footed playmaker

Real Madrid are leading the race for 16-year-old emerging talent Franco Mastantuono, but they will face competition from Chelsea this summer. The Blues do face one major obstacle though.

Matteo Moretto has told Football España that Chelsea are one of a number of teams that have enquired about Mastantuono, who has a €45m release clause, but rises by €5m in the final ten days of the transfer window. Real Madrid will not pay that clause, but crucially are the first option for Mastantuono, who believes Los Blancos to be at the summit of the footballing world.

Even if Chelsea outbid Real Madrid, unless they can convince Mastantuono to join them instead, their efforts will be futile. It is not ruled out that Los Blancos do reach his release clause figure with variables too.

Mastantuono was first linked to Barcelona in recent months, but with their finances still in a poor state, decided to pull out of the race. That news shortly followed reports that Head Scout at Real Madrid, Juni Calafat, had held conversations with the teenager, and his record of bringing in players from South America is unparalleled in recent years, having signed Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes, Reinier Jesus and most recently Endrick Felipe.