€60m deal 

©TM/IMAGO

Nico Paz has rejoined Como on a permanent transfer in a whirlwind deal this summer from Real Madrid. The Argentina international has spent the last two seasons at the Italian club and been a revelation for Cesc Fabregas’ men. Como initially paid €6 million for Paz’s services but Madrid retained a buy-back clause, which was essentially a prerequisite for the deal. The expectation was that Los Blancos would activate their clause this summer and Paz would compete for minutes under José Mourinho next season.

It’s understood that Madrid never activated that clause, which stood at €9m, and instead reached a new agreement with Como for Paz. The Serie A club have paid a club record fee of €60m from the 21-year-old and a new buy-back clause of €80m has been inserted in the deal with the 50% sell-on clause removed, if the Argentine moves to another club. It represents a significant profit for the Spanish giants on their academy graduate and the deal ranks amongst Madrid’s ten biggest sales – you can view the full top 150 list below.

Real Madrid: Top ten biggest sales

Real Madrid have only ever sold one player for in excess of €100m, Cristiano Ronaldo. Madrid’s all-time record goalscorer departed the Santiago Bernabeu after a decade of scoring goals to join Juventus for €117m in 2018. Manchester United signings occupy three places in the top ten list with Ángel Di María (€75m) and Casemiro (€70.7m) ranking second and third respectively. The other deal involving Man United in Madrid’s top most expensive sales is Raphaël Varane’s €40m move to Old Trafford in 2012.

As the graphic above illustrates, Paz’s move to Como ranks fifth and it would be level with Álvaro Morata’s transfer to Chelsea, if both the original €6m fee and secondary €60m fee were combined. Mesut Özil’s €47m to Arsenal in 2013 was Madrid’s record sale before Di Maria moved to England as was Robinho’s famous transfer to Manchester City, which signalled the start of their insane spending spree.