Rennes president Nicolas Holveck has confirmed that midfielder Eduardo Camavinga has agreed to stay with the club for at least one more season.
The 17-year-old was one of Ligue 1’s breakout stars this season, and was rumoured to be close to a €50m to Real Madrid – who had made the teenager one of their top priorities this summer – before the coronavirus outbreak.
However, the last few months have had a little bit of an impact on football. Real are understood to be planning for a summer without any signings, which has killed talk of an imminent move for Camavinga.
Manchester United have recently been tipped to move for the Frenchman, but Holveck has now confirmed in a press conference that the decision has been made for Camavinga to stay at Roazhon Park for a little while longer.
“We are currently in a spectacular crisis,” Holveck explained. “When we see the great clubs, I am not sure that there will be great movements. We have not yet set a price for Camavinga but we have decided that he will continue with us next season because we are an ambitious team.
“We have agreed with Eduardo that he will stay with us next season. He is a smart player and he knows where his sporting interest would be best served at the moment. Irrespective of that, we haven’t actually received any offers for him.”
Well, that’s that then.
It seems like any move for Camavinga is going to have to come next summer, but that might be tough for Real to pull off. They have already expressed an interest in Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, and don’t forget about their famous plan to land Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé in 2021.
Even if transfer fees drop in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, Real would struggle to afford deals for all of those players, so club officials may have to decide just how important Camavinga would be to their squad rebuild.
The 17-year-old managed 36 appearances in all competitions before Ligue 1 was brought to an abrupt end, starring against PSG and steering Rennes to a surprise third-placed finish.
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