‘Never’—Real Madrid Hand Firm Transfer Blow to Barcelona

The Blaugrana’s hunt for attacking reinforcements could be a complicated one.

A strong stance from Real Madrid. | Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Real Madrid officials have reportedly decided to do whatever is needed to stop Barcelona from signing Osasuna winger Víctor Muñoz this summer.

The 22-year-old, who left Madrid last summer, has enjoyed an excellent breakthrough year with Osasuna. A return of six goals and five assists has seen Muñoz earn a debut for Spain and emerge as a possible transfer target for Barcelona.

Barcelona want attacking reinforcements this summer and, amid uncertainty surrounding the future of on-loan Marcus Rashford, are understood to have expressed an interest in signing Muñoz. Unfortunately for the La Liga leaders, any deal would be far from simple.

As part of his sale last summer, Madrid took their usual approach of inserting buy-back clauses, giving them complete control over Muñoz for the next three years. According to AS, Los Blancos are ready to trigger that clause this summer purely to stop Barcelona from getting the 22-year-old.

Madrid are not thought to be desperate to bring Muñoz back and would simply be acting to disrupt their fiercest rivals, who may prefer to look elsewhere rather than push the winger back to the Bernabéu this summer.

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Real Madrid’s Excellent Buy-Back Clauses

Víctor Muñoz is one of many players under Real Madrid’s control. | Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

No fanbase likes to see their club part ways with academy talents, particularly for cheap fees. While Premier League teams do their best to hoard promising youngsters, those in La Liga often take a different approach.

If there is not an immediate place in the first team, Madrid will often sell their youngsters permanently in low-cost deals that would benefit them in the future. In the case of Muñoz, Madrid have the option to re-sign the winger for just $10.5 million (€9 million), with that fee rising slowly over the next few seasons, but that is not the end of it.

If Madrid decline to trigger their buy-back clause in the next three years, they will still have first refusal to match any bids received for Muñoz, and they will also receive 50% of any future sale.

This has been a common strategy for Madrid over the past few years and Muñoz is just one of several top youngsters whose futures are under control by Los Blancos.

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Como star Nico Paz is expected to return to Madrid this summer and teammate Jacobo Ramón could follow suit in the face of blockbuster interest from the Premier League’s elite. Stuttgart midfielder Chema Andrés is another tipped to return soon.

While it will ultimately cost Madrid to bring those players back, paying more than they sold for each, the margins are small for a club of their size and the new values of each player makes every deal look like a bargain anyway.

Osasuna have pointed interested clubs towards a release clause of over $46 million (€40 million) in Muńoz’s contract, while reports have valued Paz at over $81 million (€70 million). Madrid could sign the pair for just $21 million (€18 million) this summer.

Such arrangements give Madrid total control over some of Europe’s top young prospects, promising either exciting reinforcements or significant profits over the coming years.

As for Barcelona, if they do not pursue Rashford’s signature this summer, they may have to look at other options.

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