While the Spanish capital no longer hopes for the arrival of Kylian Mbappé, it is the young Rennes midfielder Eduardo Camavinga who joins the club at the 13 Champions Leagues to continue his meteoric development. The two clubs announced his transfer on Tuesday, August 31, a few hours before the end of the summer transfer window.
? #WelcomeCamavinga ? ? @Camavinga https://t.co/qECpcYxw0F
“The club has known me now since I was 11, they watched me grow up, they helped me develop in the world of football and it is also thanks to them that I became the man I became. I am today ”, To writes the young midfielder on Twitter Tuesday afternoon, to bid farewell to the Breton club.
Thank you very much @staderennais ❤️?⚫️ https://t.co/0hODmoxNFE
“Already a slight nostalgia, that of no longer seeing the local child roaming the banks of the Vilaine. But I am very proud to see him join one of the most prestigious clubs in the world ”, Rennes wrote in its press release, after sharing a farewell video on social media, titled “From Roazhon Park to the Bernabeu, good road Eduardo Camavinga”.
From ??????? ???? to ???????́? ? Have a good trip @Camavinga ❤? https://t.co/qunp2dnm8Q
The young international was closely followed by Zinédine Zidane, who had tried to enlist him last summer… but the player had preferred to stay in his cocoon for an additional year. After the departures of Zinédine Zidane, Sergio Ramos and Raphaël Varane this summer, true emblems of the club, Eduardo Camavinga will embody the new Madrid era under the leadership of Carlo Ancelotti.
He is the second summer signing of the Merengues, after David Alaba, who arrived free from Bayern Munich. Eduardo Camavinga will have plenty of time to refine his progress with his compatriots Ferland Mendy and Karim Benzema, and will be surrounded by the trio of Madrid midfielder: Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Carlos Henrique Casimiro.
In Ligue 1 at the age of 16
A new page opens for the young prodigy with a singular history. Born into a refugee family in Angola, Eduardo Camavinga arrived in France at the age of 2 with his family, who settled in Fougères, north-east of Rennes. Launched in Ligue 1 by Julien Stéphan, in the spring of 2019, when he was only 16, Camavinga seduced the French public with his carelessness, his smile and his science of the game.
It was not until November 2019, at just 17 years old, that the young community was naturalized French. From the following days, he was called up to the France Espoirs team, and in September 2020, when he was not yet major, he climbed another level. Youngest Blue for a century, he shines from his first steps, with a sublime goal for his second match, against Ukraine in October 2020, in a friendly.
For Rennes, who had nicknamed him “The Little Prince of Roazhon Park” from its inception, the outcome was inevitable. The departure of his nugget at Real is directly among the biggest transfers in the history of the club, with those of Ousmane Dembélé to Dortmund in 2016 (35 million euros) and Ismaïla Sarr to Watford in 2019 (between 30 million and 38 million euros with bonus).
Unfortunately, after his first remarkable selection for the France team, Camavinga has lost some of its splendor. Injuries, opponents warned opposite, a change of agent (to join the powerful Jonathan Barnett) and an inconstant team … The sparkling Camavinga of the 2019-2020 season only reappeared by flashes last season.
Replacing in recent weeks, Camavinga, who came to the end of his contract in the summer of 2022, refused the contract extension proposed by Rennes, which tarnished his reunion with the supporters. He played his last match in red and black on Sunday at Angers, where he entered the break when Rennes had just been reduced to ten and ended up losing 2-0.