“Here we go soon.”
Fabrizio Romano has revealed Real Madrid’s deal to sign former Manchester United defender Alvaro Carreras is set to be completed this week.
But where the Red Devils had been hoping to bank a welcome windfall from the move, owing to their 20% sell-on clause for the Spaniard, this amount may decrease as new details have emerged from the negotiations between the Iberian clubs.
A €50 Million Release Clause Carreras, 22, joined Benfica from United last summer after spending the second half of the previous campaign on loan at the Estadio da Luz.
The loan deal had included an obligation to buy clause if Carreras played at least 50% of the Eagles’ matches. This was triggered and Benfica signed the left-back on a permanent deal worth a potential £7.5 million.
United retain a 20% sell-on clause for the Carrington graduate in any future deal worth more than £5 million. A buy-back option worth around £16 million was also included.
Carreras’ contract with Benfica contains a €50 million (£42m) release clause, entitling the Red Devils to £8.4 million if it is activated. And after the Spain U-21 international’s impressive campaign in Portugal last season, Real Madrid looked set to do just that this summer.
The La Liga giant have identified Carreras as a key target to help new head coach Xabi Alonso transform the club’s defence, after deals have already been agreed for Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) and Dean Huijsen (Bournemouth).
A Twist in the Tale Benfica were believed to be pushing for Carreras’ full release clause to be triggered in order to sanction his departure from Lisbon, rewarding United with that welcome £8.4m pay day for their former star.
🚨💣 EXCLUSIVE: Real Madrid are closing in on Álvaro Carreras deal… with Rafael Obrador to Benfica included as part of negotiations.
Fixed fee plus Obrador deal at the final stages with clubs set to complete the agreement in next days.
Carreras to Real, here we go soon. 🤍🧨 pic.twitter.com/7cbmfkIJC6
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 8, 2025
Tweet: “EXCLUSIVE: Real Madrid are closing in on Álvaro Carreras deal… with Rafael Obrador to Benfica included as part of negotiations. Fixed fee plus Obrador deal at the final stages with clubs set to complete the agreement in next days. Carreras to Real, here we go soon.”
However, Romano reveals Los Blancos have now included fullback Rafael Obrador – a 21-year-old left-back for their reserve team, Real Madrid Castilla – as “part of negotiations” for Carreras.
Obrador will head to Benfica while Carreras arrives at the Bernabeu in the opposite direction with the “clubs set to complete the agreement in the next days,” Romano states.
Crucially, the Italian transfer expert reveals Obrador’s switch will “formally be a separate negotiation” to Carreras, with “a fixed fee” agreed for the Benfica defender.
This means United’s sell-on clause for Carreras will not be officially impacted by Benfica signing Obrador. But, conversely, it could lead to the Portuguese club accepting a lower fee from Madrid for the former United star.
If Madrid had triggered the release clause, as had been hoped at Old Trafford, there would be no need for negotiations. Similarly, the deal for Obrador would not impact on Carreras’ move in this scenario.
This means Madrid are almost certainly paying below the £42 million release clause, with Obrador heading in the opposite direction to help sweeten the deal.
Therefore, United are set to miss out on the full amount of £8.4m for their former pupil, though a considerable fee is still expected due to the market valuation of Obrador – a youth player yet to make a senior appearance at his current club – in comparison to Carreras’ own value.
If Benfica were to choose to accept a drastically reduced fee for Carreras to secure Obrador on a similarly cheap deal it would decrease the amount the Eagles had to pay United as part of the sell-on clause.
However, FIFA have regulations in place to prevent this tactic with part-exchange transfers involving sell-on clauses required to reflect the market value of the respective players involved. This means United can still expect to to receive the majority of the projected fee from the deal between Madrid and Benfica.
But ahead of a pivotal transfer window at Old Trafford, where every penny will count, the Red Devils are likely to be frustrated that a deal agreed last year may not pay the full dividends it had appeared to promise this summer.
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Darragh Fox Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
