After the return of Kranevitter, another return of luxury: River have everything ready for Nacho Fernández to put on the red armband

Ignacio Nicolás Fernández is close to returning to River. The process of his return is ongoing. The negotiation with the Brazilian from Atlético Mineiro, the club where the midfielder plays, is feasible, so Nacho has many chances to wear the red armband again in 2023.

Nacho still has one year on his contract at Mineiro but, as he was able to find out, clarion– He has already told Eduardo Coudet, the newest coach of the Belo Horizonte club, that he wants to return to Argentina and play for River again.

In the midst of the nostalgia of the 32-year-old footballer (he will be 33 in January) born on July 9, there is a personal matter. The director of Atlético Mineiro, Rodrigo Caetano, commented on it. “Nacho has a personal matter, his wife is pregnant”, said the director of the Brazilian institution.

He added: “He’s entering his last year of contract and will obviously leave in case of a good deal.” In River they are cautious, but they believe that the negotiation will go through.

They have one advantage: Mineiro owes $1,100,000 from Fernández transferwhich he bought in early 2021. At that time he paid $8 million for 100 percent of the pass, of which Núñez’s club had about $6 million left because he had 70 percent.

In any case, Mineiro did not meet the payments on time and in April last year River filed a complaint with FIFA for two installments owed for a total amount of 2.5 million dollars, of which the Brazilians have already paid more than the half and subtract one million one hundred thousand dollars.

That money will form part of the negotiations that River has now started for the repatriation of Nacho, for which he will have to shell out at least a couple of million dollars to finalize his return, which began to take shape in September when the midfielder was farewell pontius to Leonardo.

The hours that Nacho spent in Argentina to bid farewell to the man from Santa Fe were fundamental in starting the return operation. From managers, former club players, current squad players and Marcelo Gallardo and his coaching staff also spoke to him to try to convince him. And the fans too. They made it clear with the ovation they gave them at the Monumental.

But it didn’t stop there. Contacts continued. And a few days ago, Nacho took another heat bath at the River Plate. He was at Bruno Zuculini’s wedding and there his former colleagues expressed the desire for him to be with them again.

In mid-November, after Martín Demichelis was presented as the new manager of River, clarion He anticipated that the dream of repatriating Nacho Fernández was latent. And even if he still had a year on his contract with Atlético Mineiro, if there had been any possibility of negotiation, Núñez’s club would have accelerated.

This is what is happening right now. And Demichelis is following the matter closely as he wants to have Fernández in his team. And he is close to giving himself. If that happens, he will get his second backup after management specifies it the return of Matías Kranevitter. They are now called “Brain”, the nickname Nacho earned for his football wisdom.