Real Madrid refuse to let striker leave for free
Karan Tejwani
- 25 Aug 2022 14:55 BST
- 3 min read
Real Madrid are looking to let go of Mariano Diaz and the player is willing to leave, but the club do not want to release him from his contract.
The player has rarely featured for the club since signing for them in 2018 – playing a little over 1,750 minutes in the four years since his signing – and hasn’t been good value for money.
As a result, Real Madrid are hoping to recover some sort of fee for him, having paid €33 million to bring him over from Lyon four years ago.
The problem is that there aren’t too many clubs interested in signing the Dominican forward, who earns a high wage at Real Madrid that not many can afford to take on.
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Diaz earns €9.5 million per season, which cannot be afforded by Spanish La Liga clubs – which is where the player wants to continue playing.
Real Madrid feel that releasing him from his contract would send the wrong message to the market – that they’d be willing to let players go for free if they wish and clubs may refuse to pay transfer fees’ in the future.
🔒MURALLA RUDIGER🔒
👀Ojo al UNO contra UNO de Mariano contra el central... (vía realmadrid). pic.twitter.com/aJrjUINypy— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) August 24, 2022
They would prefer loaning Diaz out, having previously tried to do so in 2020 to Benfica and 2021 to Rayo Vallecano (even agreeing to pay his wages in full in this regard), but nothing came to fruition.
The club think loaning him out will allow him to flourish and he’ll be able to come back with more clubs willing to pay a transfer fee to secure his services.
That would require Real Madrid to extend the 29-year-old’s contract as he currently only has a year left on his deal at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Last season, despite Real Madrid’s long run in the Champions League as well as their La Liga success, Diaz featured just 11 times, showing how far down he is in the pecking order at the club.
