Guardiola Makes the Transfer Official, Florentino Approves, and He Goes to City

Real Madrid faces a complicated saga to solve for the 2025 summer market: finding reliable central defenders who can provide longevity and quality. The profile sought by the Madrid sports management is very clear and has been explored over the past few months with several names that will ultimately sign with other clubs.

One of the most notable is Vitor Reis. This discovery by Juni Calafat in the Brasileirão didn't go unnoticed at the end of last season. After a 2024 summer market marked by the agitation and failure of the "Yoro case", Real Madrid seemed to postpone any movement for that position for a year.

Manchester City has taken advantage of that circumstance. The passivity of the executives led by Florentino Pérez in the current winter window has allowed Pep Guardiola to add two new young central defenders, with great potential, to his team. Besides Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis is already a new player in the sky blue sports discipline.

The contract transfer took place this morning, concluding an operation that had been anticipated for several weeks. The interest of the former Palmeiras defender in joining the Premier tipped the scales in an operation from which Madrid distanced itself some time ago.

Lost opportunity

Not only because of the extremely high competitive and financial capabilities of City, capable of doubling any price that could be offered from the Valdebebas offices. The transfer demanded by Palmeiras to facilitate Vitor Reis's departure from Allianz Parque was too demanding for Madrid's treasury.

His market value at the beginning of the saga referred to a release clause set at 100 million euros. Such a figure for a player barely 18 years old, without much experience in the world soccer elite, was excessive for the Madrid bosses.

Manchester City, thanks to its extensive budget for transfers, wouldn't have had any problem funding the team change. While it's true that it's a great operation, very hopeful and promising in terms of soccer quality, Real Madrid has already "forgotten" about Vitor Reis.

Now the Madrid sports management is focused on other names like Castello Lukeba, William Saliba, Ibrahima Konaté, or Dean Hujisen. While it's true that these would also be financially exhausting transfers, there would be greater opportunities to reduce the money to invest in that acquisition.