© EuroFootball.com
On Thursday, the multiple-time Argentine champion from Buenos Aires announced that he has agreed to sell the highly-rated midfielder Fernando Gago to the Spanish giant Real Madrid for a sum exceeding 20 million euros.
"The talented Boca Juniors midfielder Fernando Gago will be sold to Real Madrid for 27 million dollars," announced the official website of the Argentine club. "The faxed offer was received this Wednesday and was soon accepted."
According to Boca, the player will be presented at Real Madrid on Friday, and a representative of the Argentinians will arrive in Madrid next week to sign the contract documents. The young 20-year-old Argentine is likely to commit to the new club for six and a half years.
Real continues to try to rejuvenate their team by acquiring talented players from South American clubs - the club from the Spanish capital last week purchased the young forward Gonzalo Higuain from another Buenos Aires team, River Plate, for 13 million euros. He signed a six-and-a-half-year contract and will be officially presented to the club on Thursday.
The capital club also added the Brazilian full-back Marcelo from Fluminense, who is expected to replace the 33-year-old veteran Roberto Carlos in the future. The 18-year-old Brazilian's transfer fee is approximately between six to nine million euros.
Fernando Gago was one of Boca Juniors' leaders in the Argentine Apertura league, but his team lost the crucial match for the championship title to Estudiantes last week. The young player is compared to another Argentine midfielder Fernando Redondo, who represented Real from 1994 to 2000.
The Argentine will become the eighth footballer to join the Real team since the new club president Ramon Calderon was elected in July. During this period, the club has spent almost 100 million euros.
Before this season, former Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro, who became a World Champion with the Italian national team and was named the best player in the World and Europe, joined the royal club. Also, midfielder Emerson from Brazil, former Dutch national team striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, Malian national team midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, and former Arsenal midfielder, Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes.
The nine-time UEFA Champions League winner Real Madrid has not won any prestigious trophies in the last three seasons and suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat on Wednesday in front of their fans to the newcomer club Recreativo. They are currently in third place in the standings, five points behind the leader Sevilla.
