River got the green light on Thursday morning and can take Rafael Santos Borré, Mauro Arambarri and Giovanni González into its Copa Argentina match against Aldosivi, even though the club had already filled its foreign-player quota. Coudet named a 20-man squad hours before the trip to Salta, and four of River’s five new reinforcements were included.
The decision matters because River had already used all six foreign-player places allowed by AFA. By the end of the first semester, the club had Juanfer Quintero, Kendry Páez, Matías Viña and Kevin Castaño in those slots, then reached the limit again in the first days of the market with Arambarri and González, before adding Borré as a seventh foreign player. AFA still granted an exception so the three newcomers could be available for River Plate vs Aldosivi, a move that changes the immediate squad picture for a cup match that arrived just before the team left for Salta.
That exception does not solve the roster problem behind it. River must remove one foreign player next week before the Torneo Clausura begins, and the names already on the table show how tight the margin is. Kevin Castaño is the one pointed to leave through a sale, while River is also trying to terminate the loan deals of Kendry Páez and Matías Viña; if those rescissions happen, Viña would return to Flamengo and Páez to Chelsea. Those three departures would take River back to four foreign players and create room to add two more, but that outcome is still pending, which is why the club is having to manage the Aldosivi match and the next tournament at the same time.
Castaño is the most watchable piece of that puzzle. He has already drawn interest from clubs in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, América and Tigres, and he will have to train in the coming days with the players who may be removed from the squad. River can put three foreigners on the field against Aldosivi because AFA made a one-off exception for the cup game, but the quota itself still stands, and the club has only a short window to make the numbers work before the Torneo Clausura starts.
