"My intention was to play for River, but Madrid came along and changed my mind"

Only a certain number of players can end up at Real Madrid. And one of them is going to be Franco Mastantuono, who on August 14th will become a new 'Merengue' player. The striker, in an interview with Gaston Edul for 'TyC Sports', explained what it means to sign for the Spanish side.

"It's a very special moment in my life, in my career. I think that this year many things have happened that have marked me as a player and as a person. And well, coming to Real Madrid I think it's a dream. I've always said that my dream was to play in Europe, but obviously I always dreamed of the biggest, which was Real Madrid. I think it's something incredible that this has happened," he said.

However, Mastantuono said that he had a first contact with Madrid almost a year and a half ago. There was nothing, but everything changed with the interest this summer: "I had a first talk with them, I think, a year or a year and a half ago. It hadn't gone any further. It had been a very good talk, but nothing happened. Then I renewed with River. I spent the whole of last year playing. This year, to be honest, if you asked me at the beginning of the year, my intention was to play for River, I didn't have anything else in mind. And well, in the middle of the year Madrid appeared, that obviously changed my ideas. It made me think. They showed me how much they loved me and how much they wanted me to be there. For me it was a dream, I saw it as a very personal and beautiful challenge. That's when I made the decision.

"I think it is something very special to be able to go to a club like this. For me, River is the biggest club in America, and now I'm going to the biggest club in Europe, and surely in the world, which is Madrid. It is a dream. Any player who is a River fan thinks this is ideal, because you are making a leap to Europe. You're going to a club that is huge, that wins everything, that is the biggest winner. For me, as a player, it's a very big personal challenge," he underlined.

He himself had already confirmed in an interview that the call from Xabi Alonso was key. And he recalled it again: "Yes, I spoke to Xabi. The truth is that he was very nice to me. The talk I had with him also motivated me a lot to make the decision. He called me and always spoke to me sincerely. It was very important for me. As I said, leaving River is not easy. We all know that. But it made it a little bit easier for me in the sense that he called me the way he did, and that's why I also made the decision," he said.

Vinicius, Mbappe, the white shirt, the anthem... Mastantuono's skin crawled: "Madrid is always like something you can't get to. To know that in a few days I'm going to be there, obviously it moves me, it excites me. But also, as I said, I don't want the excitement of being able to play for Madrid to take me away from what I want to do as a football player. What I want is to help the team during the season. I think my dream is to stay there for a long time. What I imagine is to play there for a long time, not to think about another team in Europe other than that. Obviously, I say this imagining. I think it could be my career. I'm going to try to enjoy it.

Finally, the Argentine attacker referred to some words of Estevao, who told the newspaper 'AS' that it would be interesting to see a fight for the Ballon d'Or with Lamine and Mastantuono himself. "Well, I think Estevao is a great player, we know that. The other day he just scored a goal against Chelsea.... He's a great player. The truth is that he really enjoyed himself here in America. And then, the Ballon d'Or... honestly, it's not something that's on my mind right now. I, as I told you, I'm going to adapt to Real Madrid, to start playing and winning, that's what's important in this club. I want to win a lot of things with Madrid. If you ask me about my objective, it's to win a lot of titles: to fight for the Champions League, to win the league... those are the objectives I have in my head", he concluded.