Real Madrid and Unicaja Malaga are talking to DKV Joventut in an attempt to sign Spanish prodigy Ricky Rubio.

Real is reported to have more resource and prestige, but Malaga is the hot favourite in this case if Rubio decides to stay in Europe due to his familiarity with coach "Aito" Garcia Reneses, who coached the point guard at Joventut and was the Spanish Olympic head coach in the Beijing Games.

Rubio is also said to prefer living in Malaga to Madrid.

Reports indicate that Unicaja, the sponsor of the Malaga team, is willing to pay the majority of the US$6.6 million Rubio owes to Joventut for his release. The financial institution thinks it's well worth the investment, and is banking on Rubio to become a national icon similar to Pau Gasol and Rafael Nadal.

However, Unicaja want the Spaniard to sign a three-year deal with the club, and Rubio isn't sure he wants to stay in Spain for that long. Real Madrid are willing to let him go to the NBA after two years.

Both teams can pay Joventut as much as they want to buyout the point guard. The Wolves, however, are governed by NBA rules, and can only fork out US$500,000.

Another European team buying out Rubio's massive contract and signing him on a short-term deal is more ideal than signing with the T-Wolves immediately.

Sources close to the situation say that talk a week ago that he'd return to Joventut for two more years rather than pay the buyout is little more  than negotiating tactics.