Granada have finalised the sale of Bryan Zaragoza to Bayern Munich. The recently capped Spain international will remain at Los Nazaries for the rest of the season.
The 22-year-old winger has enjoyed an excellent start to the La Liga season, in spite of Granada’s poor fortunes in the table. Five goals and two assists in 14 appearances, including an excellent two-goal performance against Barcelona, inspired Spain to call up Zaragoza for his first cap in October.
🚨| Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig wanted to sign Bryan Zaragoza, but the player decided to join Bayern Munich.
[@marcosbenito9, @elchiringuitotv] pic.twitter.com/VDYBwekqpk
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) December 6, 2023
Sport say that Barcelona were keen on signing Zaragoza, but did not give him any guarantees, and were keen to do a deal in the summer, when his release clause would have dropped to €7m, rather than €14m. Meanwhile Brentford, RB Leipzig and Atletico Madrid were also in pursuit of the pacy winger.
According to Diario AS, Bayern will pay more than his release clause. The deal will be done for €15m plus €2m in variables, while Zaragoza will still be there to try and drag Granada to safety until the end of the season. He will join Bayern in the summer, on a deal until 2029. Granada had been trying to extend his contract and raise his release clause for months, but this deal ensures that Los Nazaries receive a little more than his release clause.
The structure of the deal should aid Sporting Director Matteo Tognozzi in the January transfer window. Granada have had little margin in their salary cap to operate in, but this should both give them an influx of money, and maintain their strength until the summer. The previous transfer market saw Granada spend €8.8m on new players, and €5m on making loan deals permanent, but previous manager Paco Lopez felt they were still short in some places.
