RAFAEL SANTOS BORRE: WHO IS THE COLUMBIAN FREE AGENT KNOCKING ON EUROPE'S DOOR - BRIGHTON ENTER RACE

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While people talk about the MLS, Brazil, Spain, Lazio and even Brighton in the latest hours, River Plate’s fans can’t believe their star striker is leaving as a free agent in June.

Rafael Santos Borre arrived in Argentina in August of 2017, his first year in River was good, he scored 10 goals, but fans were really impatient with him because of the amount of missed opportunities he should have easily scored.

As the years went by, the Colombian finally won the hearts of fans, as he scored in important matches, especially, in Copa Libertadores, like against Racing, Independiente and Gremio in 2018 when River won the cup against Boca Juniors, and also in 2019 scoring against Boca in the semi-finals and Flamengo in a final that River finally lost.

Apart from scoring, he is really important to the coach Marcelo Gallardo because he is an intense player when the team needs to work in defence, his speed makes it really difficult for the defenders to pass the ball with comfort.

The problem with Borre in River is his contract, when he signed in 2017, the Argentinian club bought him from Atletico Madrid after a season on loan in Villareal, but in order to sign a new contract with the Colombian player in June 2021, River has to pay around 3 million dollars to Atletico. With Argentina’s economic problems, football teams are struggling to keep their player satisfied economically. River’s situation encompasses this, as even if they had the 3 million dollars to pay to the Spanish club, it would be impossible to pay him as he deserves.

Right now, Borre can’t stop scoring, almost 10 days ago he scored 4 goals in a league match. Last Copa Libertadores River reached the semi-finals, and he scored multiple goals in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. In the ‘Millonario’ he scored 50 goals in 131 until now.

The Colombian leaving River free in June is an opportunity for any club in the world, to sign a great striker, who could be really useful to different teams. In the last couple of weeks, a lot of teams showed interest in him, the most solid offers were from Palmeiras and Gremio, apart from Toronto of the MLS. Different journalist said he accepted those offers from Brazil but it didn’t happen and Gremio publicly communicated that they desisted of signing him because he took too much time to answer them.

His agent, his family and him are waiting for an offer from Europe, it is what they believe convenient economically and as a life project. Apart from the money, this decision is important because the performance in River Plate didn’t really help him to get into the Colombia national team, he played 2 matches and didn’t score. Borre hopes, if he performs in a good way in a European league, he will get more chances to compete with Muriel, Falcao and Duvan Zapata.

In Europe, teams like Celta de Vigo, Lazio and, in the last few hours, Brighton as well, are the teams interested in Borre.