It does little for the peace of mind of every Osasuna fan to imagine what their season would have been without the Croatian star Ante Budimir. Recent reports, however, suggest that it will be something they have to deal with.
The veteran attacker, who turns 34 before the next season, enjoyed his best campaign ever with Osasuna last season and scored 21 goals in La Liga last season. That totally brought him to third place in the Pichichi race, behind only Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid. Three times also scored 24 goals and four assists in the Copa del Rey, a total of Budimir in his 42 performances, and became in their history of Osasuna in Primera.
Given that Budimir has settled in Pamplona and he is now at the twilight of his career, Los Rojillo would generally not be too much worried about holding Budimir. Nevertheless, a Diario De Navarra report, as quoted by Sport, has revealed that the Budimir release clause has already fallen a certain period to just € 8 million. Later this summer it will return to the figure of € 20 million in his deal so far.
Real Madrid recorded him in their shortlist this summer for a number nine, because they are considering repeating the trick that they have achieved with Joselu Mato. He was also the third scorer in Spain in Espanyol two seasons ago before Los Blancos came to call. In the meantime, Turkish giants Besiktas are also interested, and Budimir recently had a meeting with Agent Mladen Grgic to discuss his future.