Garay transfer is off

Madrid sports tabloid Marca claims that Barcelona has pulled out of a deal on the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21). Earlier this year, Barcelona and Santander agreed upon the transfer of the Argentinian, who has a buyout clause of 20 million euro (°) and who would sign a five-year deal. Barcelona would pay (in three blocks, to be paid in April, June and December of this year) 14 million euro (°°), with another 4 million euro (*) in incentives. With Barcelona last month communicating to Santander officials that they would not pay the first slice, the deal is now definitely off.

In the meanwhile, Santander would already have offered Garay to Real Madrid. The negotiations are still ongoing and the main obstacle seems to be the transfer price: while Santander wants to receive at least what Barcelona was prepared to pay, Madrid doesn't want to pay more than 12 million euro (**). Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Real Madrid is not interested in Garay and that sources in Santander insist that the negotiations with Barcelona are well-advanced.

(read everything on the Garay transfer story here)