The exile is working! Madrid's €45m prodigy is dreaming of a Bernabéu return
A year ago he was the most expensive teenager in Argentine football history, a year later he was quietly shipped to Florence. Now, remarkably, everyone agrees that the painful detour is turning into a triumph.
Details: According to AS, Franco Mastantuono wants to return to Real Madrid next season, and the feeling is entirely mutual. The club has full trust in the 19 year old, both sides consider his loan at Fiorentina very useful, and at Valdebebas there is genuine belief in his football. The plan was always for the winger to come back in June 2027: the loan contains no purchase option, and Madrid blocked Napoli's attempts to sign him in September, offering only short term loans without a buy clause.
The numbers explain Madrid's patience. Signed from River Plate for €45 million in June 2025, beating PSG to his signature, Mastantuono endured a nightmare debut season: 35 appearances but only three goals, Xabi Alonso sacked mid campaign, a place at the 2026 World Cup lost, and a training ground anecdote about not passing to Mbappé that went viral. Italy has been the perfect antidote. In Florence he found minutes, confidence and joy, delivering a hat-trick in a 4:2 win over Venezia that made him the youngest Argentine ever to score a treble in Europe's top five leagues, breaking a record Lionel Messi had held. That revival earned him a recall to the national team, where he came off the bench in the 4:0 rout of Bolivia and admitted afterwards: I feel very good since I went to Italy, I changed my life a little. Fiorentina, for their part, have no intention of letting their jewel go early: they signed him as the summer's marquee addition and see him as the face of their project. The model is deliberate, following the Nico Paz playbook, and Madrid are watching both Argentines with the same long term plan in mind.
It's worth noting that Mastantuono's Madrid contract runs until 2031, giving the club complete control over his future. When he left in August, his goodbye was cordial by all accounts: a friendly conversation with the club, a decision made a week before the announcement, and a promise that Florence was a stage, not an escape.
Reminder: €80m and it's done? Real Madrid want to bring back their former player
Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
