Dani Carvajal’s move to Getafe stalls two days after his arrival was announced

On Tuesday night, on DAZN, Ángel Torres promised Dani Carvajal’s arrival: “LaLiga and I only have to reach an agreement. He is arriving this afternoon,” said the Getafe president, who claimed the player had already passed his medical. On Wednesday, on El Chiringuito, the same Torres denied everything: “At the moment we know nothing,” “everything is broken off.” In forty-eight hours the announcement turned into a stalled file with three different explanations.

The player, 34, has waited since his Real Madrid contract ran out in July. Thirteen seasons in Madrid, 26 trophies including six Champions Leagues, 52 caps for Spain: his best option stayed in the city. Getafe, eleventh in LaLiga and playing in the Conference League, let him keep living in Madrid, in a squad where José Bordalás pushed for his arrival. Carvajal had turned down proposals from MLS, the Saudi Pro League and Qatar.

A wage of €400,000 that LaLiga judges undervalued

Cadena Ser, relayed by RMC Sport, puts the blockage down to LaLiga’s financial rules. Getafe are said to have offered €400,000 a season to a player who earned about €10m a year at Real; an independent panel of three experts assesses every wage, and the value it sets counts towards the club’s salary cap. Judging the proposal too low for a player of that standing, the panel would revalue it to a level that blows Getafe’s cap and puts the move outside the budget. There is precedent: in 2023, João Félix’s wage, on loan at Barcelona and set at €800,000, was revalued to €8m a year.

A winter release clause Getafe refuse to sign

Radio Marca blames the player instead: Carvajal is said to have demanded a clause letting him leave in the January window if an offer came in, and Getafe are said to have refused it. On the station, journalist Roberto Gómez insists the medical is passed and calls the clause “the only problem”: offering “a two-month contract to anyone with a modicum of common sense”, in his words, does not hold.

Torres himself rejects any role for the league: “Nothing is coming together. It has nothing to do with LaLiga. In principle, it has fallen through. In football, what is white today can be black tomorrow.”

For Getafe, a right-back with 52 caps slips away for now; for Carvajal, more weeks without a contract. Nothing is officially dead: AS reports the file on hold until Monday, when the player’s agent returns to Spain from abroad. On Tuesday, Torres promised the presentation “this afternoon”. On Thursday, one date is left in the file.