Former Real Madrid Castilla star’s Premier League move collapses, ruins club’s €8.5 million windfall

Real Madrid’s summer has been special so far in terms of academy player sales, and the club has accumulated serious profits not only from direct sales but also in terms of indirect windfalls.

As of earlier this week, Los Blancos were even set to receive yet another such unexpected gift – this time from former academy star Javi Rueda who plays at Celta Vigo.

The youngster, who has dished out good performances in La Liga, was said to have attracted interest from Nottingham Forest and Real Madrid took special interest in the development as they hold 50% of his rights.

Now, in what comes as a colossal and unexpected blow for Los Blancos, Rueda’s transfer to the Premier League-based side has collapsed as reported by Abraham P Romero.

Rueda will stay at Celta Vigo. (Photo by Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images)

Talks were in the final stages and an agreement was close to being reached. At the last moment, however, the negotiations were called off and the transfer now appears complicated.

Given that Rueda’s release clause stands at €40 million, there was an initial expectation that Real Madrid would receive €20 million from the transfer. 

As confirmed by the Spanish journalist, however, Real Madrid were set to reap close to €8.5 million from the fee negotiated which they will now no longer land. The deal, after all, was close to being completed for a fee of €17 million in the end.

The reason for the collapse of the transfer is surprisingly not from Nottingham Forest’s end but from Celta Vigo’s end. Claudio Giraldez, Celta’s manager, spoke on Rueda earlier this week and his words are said to have transformed the situation.

Claudio Giraldez’s words changed everything. (Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

“I don’t have the final decision about things, but if that decision were to be made, obviously it’s a decision that I don’t agree with. In the figures that are more or less talked about, it seems to me a bad sale. That’s why I trust it won’t happen,” he said via El Desmarque.

“He is an important player for us. We want him here, I trust he will be here, that we will not sell him. That’s why he enters the call and one more for tomorrow’s game. I hope the market ends with him here,” he added, when asked about Rueda’s future.

Needless to say, the manager’s words reached the administration who seem to have pulled the plug on the sale now.