Real Madrid initially ‘did not want’ to sign striker Mariano Diaz before activating a buyback clause, claims the Olympique Lyonnais president.
Jean-Michel Aulas revealed that while the player preferred a return to the European champions ahead of a move to Sevilla, Madrid had initially rejected the idea.
“Mariano said to me that he wished to go to Madrid and that is why he rejected the Sevilla offer," Aulas is cited as saying by various media outlets.
“I informed Florentino Perez (Real Madrid president, pictured) but his response was that Mariano was not the player they were in the market for, before making the offer.”
Diaz left Los Blancos in an €8m deal last summer but has now returned to the club in a deal thought to be worth in the region of €22m.
Madrid had been linked with a variety of top-class strikers this summer following Cristiano Ronaldo’s €100m exit to Juventus.
