One of the major knocks on Real Madrid compared to other top European clubs is their development of young players at the club. Other clubs like Bayern Munich and Barcelona have an incredible history of developing young players into stars of the team. Real Madrid, however, has not had such a consistent history of developing youngsters.
In recent times, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo are the closest players Real Madrid have had to a young player they developed. Prior, you would have to go all the way back to the days of Raul and Iker Casillas for youngsters who were developed into stars.
With the arrival of Xabi Alonso, many saw what he did at Bayer Leverkusen with young talent and expected him to bring that knowledge to Los Blancos. And Xabi Alonso has several promising youngsters at the club who have the potential to be huge stars for Real Madrid in the future.
One of those players in Franco Mastantuono. The 18-year-old arrived from River Plate this summer, and after a hot start to the season has since lost his starting role after an injury sidelined him for months. Given the uncertainty with his current playing situation, some clubs around Europe have made approaches for the player, with one making two approaches, and being shut down both times.
Real Madrid make the right decision with one of their youngster's (for a change)
As reported by Marca, Napoli have recently enquired about the availability of Franco Mastantuono on loan in the January transfer window. However, despite his recent lack of playing time, both the player and the club have rejected any possible move, with both parties happy together.
This loan move is the second approach Napoli have made for the attacker in recent weeks, with the first offer coming in the beginning of December, with the Serie A champions reportedly willing to dish out as much as €50 million to sign the Argentine on a permanent transfer. However, that offer was also quickly shut down.
Franco has only managed to bag one goal in his time at the club and after a long spell on the sidelines dealing with an injury, has lost his starting role on the right wing to Rodrygo, who doesn't look like he will be losing that spot anytime soon.
That said, despite this lack of gametime, loaning out or even selling Mastantuono would've been a huge mistake, so it makes sense as to why both the player and the club rejected any split. He's still only 18-years-old, he still has his whole career ahead of him and given the amount of games still left in the season, Mastantuono will surely see more minutes in the near future.