Mastantuono left River at the end of last season for Real Madrid.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Bottinelli believes Real coach Xabi Alonso will be good for teen and told Marca: "I'm really happy, a player who left home, and the River fans are very happy with Franco's current situation. Let's hope he can achieve the football he did at River.
"We have to give him time to adapt; he's very young, but I think with Xabi's help he'll achieve that quickly."
And although he acknowledged that comparisons with Leo Messi are inevitable, he offered a message of calm: "We know Leo is the best in the history of football and hopefully Mastantuono can follow in his footsteps, but we can't put too much pressure on him."