Yesterday, the72 confirmed that Leeds United had shown an interest in signing Argentinian goalkeeper Augusto Batalla.
22-year-old Batalla is about to enter the final year of his contract at Argentinian giants River Plate, meaning that he could leave for nothing next June should he so wish to. He’s spent a half-season out on loan at River Plate’s top-flight rivals CA Tucumán – featuring in 16 Primera División games, conceding 20 goals and keeping five clean sheets.
Across his career in Argentina, Batalla has featured in 62 games for River Plate and CA Tucumán conceding 65 times and keeping 23 clean sheets. He’s also got International pedigree, with 11 Argentina Under-20 caps to his name.
His stats and playing career is extremely impressive for such a young goalkeeper, and they were deemed impressive enough for Spanish giants Real Madrid to make a bid for Batalla back in 2015.
Reports from Spain have suggested that a deal was all but done, before the Argentinian keeper decided he did not want to move to the Spanish capital, and instead decided to remain loyal to his boyhood club.
Rejecting a team as huge as Real Madrid can never be easy, and speaking to the press in Argentina in 2017 about his decision to do so, he said: “Rejecting Real Madrid was a very personal decision, very difficult and I had talked with my family and they supported me. My decision was to stay and continue forging myself in the club that has given me everything, in a time when the team is going well and I can enjoy every day here.”
