Transfer news: Real Madrid sign Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes on a six-year deal
Real Madrid sign midfielder Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes in a deal worth up to €40m (£34.4m); Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain were also interested in the 18-year-old France international
Real Madrid has signed Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes on a six-year deal in a move worth up to €40m (£34.4m).
In July, Sky Sports News reported Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain were among the European clubs interested in signing the 18-year-old midfielder, considered one of the brightest prospects in French football.
United held informal talks with Camavinga’s representatives as the teenager entered the final year of his contract with the Ligue 1 club. However, Real Madrid accelerated talks in the last 24 hours.
Real see Camavinga as a potential long-term replacement for 35-year-old Luka Modric, who in May signed a one-year extension to stay at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The 18-year-old made his international debut for France during a Nations League game against Croatia last year, becoming the youngest player to play for Les Bleus since 1914.
He came through the youth ranks at Rennes and became the youngest player to play for the club when he made his professional debut in April 2019.
Real Madrid’s Official Statement
At 18, the young midfielder has already been capped by the senior French national team.
Eduardo Camavinga (Cabinda, Angola, 10/11/2002) is now a Real Madrid player after the French international joined our club from Stade Rennais. After taking his first steps in the game with AGL-Drapeau-Fougères, he checked in at the Stade Rennais academy in the summer of 2013 and went on to make his Ligue 1 debut for the club’s first team in the 2018/19 season when, at the age of 16, he became the first player born in 2002 to feature in one of Europe’s major leagues.
Camavinga is a midfielder with fine physical attributes who is capable of playing anywhere across the middle third. He excels at breaking through the lines thanks to his explosive bursts of pace. He is a versatile player who is capable of operating all over the pitch and boasts a fine turn of pace and an impressive engine. He is a left-footed player and is strong in the tackle, whilst his short- and long-range passing and his dribbling skills are strong elements of his game. He earned his first cap for the senior French national team in September 2020 in the Nations League meeting against Croatia to become the youngest player to feature for Les Bleus since 1914. In terms of his career honors, he lifted the French Cup in 2019.