Benfica president breaks silence on Real Madrid pursuit of defender – ‘Have not reached an agreement’ | OneFootball

Real Madrid have already announced three signings this summer, two of who will even travel with the team for the FIFA Club World Cup.

The third, Franco Mastantuono, is also playing in the event but will feature with his former club before leaving for Madrid.

The team’s next main target is none other than Alvaro Carreras, the former academy graduate who currently renders his services in Portugal for Benfica.

While the initial plan was to have him for the tournament next week, negotiations with Benfica hit a standstill and Real Madrid were thus unable to get it over the line. Regardless, the plan remains to have him incorporated for the start of the league season.

Benfica president speaks

Speaking to the media in a recent interview (h/t AS), Benfica president Rui Costa was asked about the young full-back’s future at the club and possible links with Real Madrid.

Opening up on the open secret, the president acknowledged that talks were on but reiterated that no agreement had been reached in any capacity.

“We have not reached an agreement with Real Madrid. Carreras plays the Club World Cup with us and is a Benfica player.”

Carreras is Real Madrid’s top left-back target. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

He then called for patience over the future of the player, especially with the FIFA Club World Cup just about to begin.

“We’ll see what happens with the entire market, not just ÁAvaro. He is focused on playing in the Club World Cup with Benfica. There were proposals that did not convince us. Neither for Alvaro nor for any other player.”

Benfica are set to debut in the Club World Cup against Boca Juniors next week and Carreras is expected to play a major role in the team’s campaign.

Talks with Real Madrid are underway but no serious progress has been made in recent weeks with the two teams still differing in their monetary expectations.

Los Blancos, after all, offer €40 million while the Portuguese giants hope for a figure closer to €48 million.

Florentino Perez and Co. hope that Benfica will reduce their asking price after the upcoming tournament.

Carreras, for his part, wishes only to play for Real Madrid and the club have assured him that they will do everything to ensure his signing goes through this summer.