Rodolfo D'Onofrio: 'Real Madrid not close to Exequiel Palacios signing'

River Plate president Rodolfo D'Onofrio has played down suggestions that Real Madrid are close to signing Exequiel Palacios.

The Argentina international has been heavily linked with a switch to the Bernabeu, and it has been claimed that a deal could be completed during the January window.

However, while acknowledging that discussions have taken place in the past, D'Onofrio has insisted that there has been no progress in negotiations.

D'Onofrio told Radio La Red: "With Real Madrid we only spoke on one occasion. Emilio Butragueno (Real Madrid's director of institutional relations) called Enzo Francescoli (River's sports director) and told him that they would like to talk to us about the player.

"But when we were in Spain, they did not make any contact with us about him."

Palacios has previously said that he will not comment on his future until after the end of the Club World Cup, which comes to a conclusion on Saturday.