Real Madrid announcing the signing of Spanish prodigy Marco Asensio bucks Los Blancos' trend of failing to complete transfer deals for Mallorca footballers in the past, a la Samuel Eto'o, Lauren and Diego Tristan.
Asensio, an 18-year-old, left-footed central attacking midfielder, has scored three goals and registered five assists in league play for Mallorca this season.
Rated as one of the top players in the Segunda Division, Asensio will remain at Mallorca on loan until the end of the campaign.
Mallorca moved the goalposts, threatening to sink the initial €3.7/£2.9 million fee agreed with Real Madrid for Asensio, per Manu Sainz at AS.
The unforeseeable change in negotiations followed the precedent set last summer when Mallorca altered "the payment structure" of Asensio's proposed move to Barcelona, causing the transfer to fall through, per Tomas Andreu at Sport.
Barcelona director of football Andoni Zubizarreta covered up the failed bid by claiming Mallorca "didn't want to sell," per FCBarcelona.com.
Since Mallorca agreed to sell Asensio to Real Madrid three weeks out from the January transfer window, it disproves Zubizarreta's statement.
What probably happened was Zubizarreta and Barcelona were flustered by Mallorca pulling a fast one, which is what Real Madrid experienced.
"Mallorca's administrative board have gone through a meeting from hell," per Paco Munoz at Marca. "The shareholders decided to postpone issues related to the sale of Marco Asensio [to Real Madrid]."
Unlike Barcelona, Real Madrid promptly adjusted to the curveball.
Real Madrid increasing the original bid from €3.7/£2.9 million to to €3.9/£3.1 million placated Mallorca, per Marca, but to sum it up:
From Mallorca's perspective, they sold Asensio on their terms.
Extracted an additional €200,000/£157,710 from Real Madrid; invaluable cash boost as Mallorca's most expensive signing in the last three transfer windows was central midfielder Javi Marquez from Espanyol for €1.2 million/£950,000 in 2012.
Asensio plays out the season at Mallorca.
Giving Mallorca a moral victory is trivial to Real Madrid if Asensio develops into a world-class footballer.
To quote Blake (Alec Baldwin) in the film, Glengarry Glen Ross: "Always be closing. Always be closing."
Real Madrid did not always live by that statement during negotiations with Mallorca footballers in the past.
A decade earlier, Samuel Eto'o—discarded from Real Madrid—developed into a scorer with elite upside at Mallorca and became an in-demand transfer target from the following clubs:
Mallorca wanted €20/£14.4 million from Chelsea for Eto'o, per Matt Scott at the Guardian.
Valencia offered €16/£12.6 million plus Salva Ballesta for Eto'o, per Peter O'Rourke at Sky Sports.
Liverpool's plan B to Djibril Cisse was Eto'o, per Francisco Acedo at Sky Sports.
On the surface, Real Madrid had forgotten about Eto'o, but that was not the case contractually.
Hedging their bets, Real Madrid owned 50 percent of Eto'o's playing rights and expected him to return as if he had been embedded with "Real Madrid DNA."
"Eto'o is a footballer that is very interesting to the future of Real Madrid. We want him [back]," Real Madrid director of players Emilio Butragueno said, per Phil Minshull at BBC Sport. "The question is, does he want to play here?"
The answer was an emphatic no.
Real Madrid's worst-case scenario when they dealt Eto'o to Mallorca was playing out in real time.
The chip on Eto'o's shoulder was Real Madrid, and not only was he on the precipice of greatness, he was intent on playing for Los Blancos' El Clasico enemy, Barcelona, per Sid Lowe's book, Fear and Loathing in La Liga:
Driven by a burning sense of injustice and a permanent desire for vindication, he scored goal after goal [for Mallorca], especially against Real Madrid.
He celebrated one strike at the Bernabeu by pointing at the spot on which he stood and mouthing: 'I was here, I was here.'
[...]
Even though Real Madrid still owned half of his registration and were reluctant to see him join their rivals [Barcelona], he refused to go anywhere else and was not prepared to listen to empty promises.
Empty promises is how you can sum up Real Madrid's attempts to woo Lauren from Mallorca.
"I had a phone call from Real Madrid saying, 'No, you've got to come ... blah, blah'," Lauren said, per Jonathan Northcroft at The Sunday Times (subscription). "I'd already decided to sign here [at Arsenal]."
The "blah blah" part implies Lauren was not impressed with Real Madrid's desperate sales pitch.
Then Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz disparaged presidential candidate Florentino Perez's sales pitches.
Sanz was betting on Mallorca centre-forward Tristan, while Perez was dreaming big attempting to land Luis Figo from Barcelona.
The modern-day equivalent of Perez's promise would be Josep Maria Bartomeu saying Barcelona would sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.
"The signing of Diego Tristan [from Mallorca] is a reality," Sanz said, per Sean Ingle at the Guardian. "Unlike the nonsense circulating [from Perez] regarding Luis Figo."
When Perez was elected over Sanz, Tristan opted for Deportivo Coruna while the "nonsense" about Figo became a reality.
Eto'o, Lauren and Tristan were three Mallorca footballers who should have been playing for Real Madrid.
Eto'o: won three La Liga titles at Barcelona and scored in the 2006 and 2009 UEFA Champions League final victories. One of the greatest centre-forwards of his generation.
Lauren: a starter on Arsenal's The Invincibles.
Tristan: the 2001-02 Pichichi Trophy recipient.
Now in Real Madrid's defence, the last time they signed a Mallorca player—Ivan Campo—it was an abject failure.
"He [Campo] had become a target for the Bernabeu boo-boys and the hyped-up sports press," per Sid Lowe at When Saturday Comes. "Campo suffered a [nervous] breakdown."
The expeditiousness of Real Madrid closing the Asensio deal marks a reversal of Los Blancos fumbling in their previous attempts to sign Eto'o, Lauren and Tristan.
Taking this into consideration, it would be a cruel twist of fate if Asensio's career at Real Madrid was a letdown like Campo's.
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