Franco Mastantuono's Loan Move from Real Madrid

Franco Mastantuono’s first year at Real Madrid is about to be put on hold. Not ended, not written off – but parked, carefully, somewhere else in Europe.

José Mourinho’s latest squad list said more than any press conference. When the Portuguese coach named his travelling group for the pre-season friendly in Austria against Fiorentina, the Argentine teenager was nowhere to be seen. No injury, no late knock, no mystery. Just absence – and, according to Spanish daily AS, confirmation that a loan move is now only details away.

From big bet to shrinking role

The omissions for this third pre-season outing had clear explanations. Dean Huijsen stayed out with injury. Antonio Rüdiger, still not at full physical capacity, was given time. Mastantuono joined them, but for a very different reason.

Inside the club, his name missing from the list did not raise eyebrows. AS reports that people at Valdebebas described it as “expected”. While his teammates boarded the plane, he remained in Madrid, with negotiations over a loan said to be in their final stages.

This is not how the story was supposed to go. When Real Madrid paid more than 60 million euros to prise him from River Plate, they were not buying a project to stash away. They were buying impact, or at least a clear trajectory towards it.

The season started with that belief. Mastantuono opened the campaign with a genuine chance to stake a claim. Training minutes, tactical sessions, early cameos – the door was ajar. Then, slowly, it closed. His involvement shrank month by month until the numbers told the tale: fewer than 1,500 minutes, three goals, one assist.

For a club that invests heavily but expects an immediate return in performance or potential, that output lands well below the internal bar. AS goes further, suggesting the new season could be even more unforgiving for the youngster given the competition now arriving.

Diomande deal tightens the squeeze

The looming arrival of Diomande has become a key turning point in the club’s thinking. With the squad being reinforced again, the room for a developing, rhythm-seeking Mastantuono all but disappears.

Coaching staff and management have reached the same conclusion: keeping him in a crowded dressing room, fighting for scraps of playing time, makes little sense. A loan, they believe, is the cleanest solution for everyone involved – the player, the club, and the future they still think he can have in white.

So the question shifts from “if” to “where”.

Italy calling, England listening

Serie A has moved quickly. Fiorentina, who will face Madrid in Austria, were among the first to explore a loan. Roma and Milan are also tracking the situation, watching closely as the deal structure takes shape.

Then came interest from England. Fulham have stepped into the conversation, with their sporting director Álvaro Arbeloa pushing the case. The former Madrid full-back knows the club, knows the pressure, and, as reported, has made no secret internally of his admiration for Mastantuono’s potential or his desire to bring him to London in this window.

Each option offers something different: the tactical demands and slower tempo of Italy, the physicality and intensity of the Premier League. What they all share is one promise he cannot get in Madrid right now – minutes.

No way back to River

Amid the uncertainty, one possibility has already been shut down. A romantic return to River Plate has been floated in reports, but AS is categorical: it is not on the table.

Neither Real Madrid nor the player are considering a move back to Argentina. For the club, it would mean stepping away from the European adaptation they see as essential. For Mastantuono, it would feel like a rewind just a year after the biggest move of his young career.

Both sides remain aligned on one key point: his future, at least in the medium term, lies in Europe. He needs to feel the rhythm of European football week after week, not in sporadic cameos but in real responsibility, under real pressure.

So he waits in Madrid while the rest of the squad flies to Austria. Not injured, not forgotten, but paused – on the brink of a loan that will say a lot about how Real Madrid truly view the 60-million-euro bet they made on him just twelve months ago.