Real Madrid miss out as Rafa Mir signs for Wolves

Real Madrid have missed out on a potential January transfer window signing, as Wolverhampton Wanderers sign Valencia youngster Rafa Mir.

The Real Champs’ Ben Sundock recently reported that Real Madrid might be close to signing young Valencia starlet Rafael Mir. Real Madrid have been struggling to score goals lately, and many were hoping that Mir could add a bit of potency to Madrid’s attacking options.

Unfortunately, it looks like that was not to be the case. As Marca report, Real Madrid were trying to pick the player up on the cheap, and failed to match the club’s €2m valuation, offering just €500,000. When Wolverhampton Wanderers, a club playing in the Championship, came in for the full price, Valencia snubbed the Spanish giants and offloaded him to Wolves.

This is a difficult transfer to interpret. On the one hand, it could signal a major screw-up on the part of Madrid’s board. If Los Blancos really wanted this player, €1.5m seems like a very small price difference for Madrid to take up. When Real Madrid get pipped to a desired transfer target by a club plying their trade in England’s second division, it seems like someone messed up.

However, there’s always a chance that this transfer was never going to actually happen. Transfer rumors are notoriously unreliable. It’s possible that someone from Valencia was leaking to the press information about potential interest from Real Madrid in order to encourage swift and decisive action from Wolves.

Chances are, Mir has been on Wolves’ head coach Nuno Espírito Santo’s radar since Nuno was coaching at Valencia in 2014. This deal may have been all but done for a while now, with Real Madrid never truly demonstrating any real interest in acquiring the player.

Madridistas hoping that their club will use the January window to bolster the attacking reserves will have to wait. There’s still a chance Madrid could make a signing at the striker position, but Rafa Mir definitely won’t be it.

Next: Three things to watch for as Real Madrid take on Numancia

Stay tuned to The Real Champs for more great coverage of Real Madrid’s winter transfer window.