The life of a footballer is often not as straightforward as it should be, particularly when certain elements of a deal are reneged upon.
That would appear to be the case with Inter Milan’s potential hire of Real Madrid’s Achraf Hakimi.
The deal to take the player to Italy had long been agreed and the attacking right-back has been enjoying his time in Serie A.
However, a payment of €10m to the Spaniards wasn’t met before the agreed date of the end of 2020, and now, according to Don Balon, Los Blancos have demanded that the player be allowed to return to the Santiago Bernabeu.
They’ve other good reasons for making the demand too.
Dani Carvajal isn’t having his best season at the club, much like many of his colleages, and Alvaro Odriozola has never been trusted by Zinedine Zidane.
Given how well Hakimi has done for the nerazzurri, his addition for the second half of the campaign could be a game-changer for Real as they hunt down cross-city rivals, Atletico, at the top of the La Liga table.
Inter, at this point, per Don Balon, don’t believe they’ve done anything wrong, and therefore it would appear unlikely that they’ll just release the player on Real’s say so.