Real Madrid are the grandest club in the world, with a reputation for spectacular theatrics in the transfer market.
Theatrics such as the reported €45m they spent on 16-year-old Vinicius Junior, a young Brazilian with almost no first-team experience to his name. Or the club performing the exact same feat with Rodrygo Goes, anybody see a pattern developing here?
That’s not the first-time Madrid have invested in a teenager, though. Their history with young talent is known as sketchy at best, and people don’t associate them with developing young signings.
But is that a deserved reputation? Do Madrid actually manage to bring signings through? Vinicius Junior has started making his mark, but does Rodrygo have hope for when he turns 18 and joins the club? Kylian Mbappé (still 19) is destroying Ligue 1 with PSG but the Real Madrid links just won’t go away. Should he consider joining Los Blancos?
Well, maybe this can clear a few things up. Here are the 11 teenagers that Real Madrid have signed this century (excluding Rodrygo Goes, who hasn’t played for them yet), and what happened next.
1. Sergio Ramos
Year: 2005
Transfer Fee: €27
Trophies Won: La Liga (4), Supercopa de España (3), Copa del Rey (2), UEFA Champions League (4), UEFA Super Cup (3), FIFA Club World Cup (3)
Became the most expensive Spanish teenager when he signed for Madrid, and was the only Spaniard signed by Florentino Perez during his first reign as President.
Ramos was a rampaging right-back with a tendency towards mental lapses, goalscoring heroics and red cards. José Mourinho arrived in 2010 and turned him into a powerful centre-back with a tendency towards mental lapses, goalscoring heroics and red cards.
Along the way Ramos has won everything there is to win more than once and developed into a leader and is now beloved as Real Madrid captain. A proud and passionate figure, his penchant for coming up with the goods in crunch time is the stuff of legend. Just don’t bank on Ramos being on any Liverpool fan’s Christmas card list.
2. Marcelo
Year: 2006
Transfer Fee: €6.5m
Trophies Won: La Liga (4), Supercopa de España (3), Copa del Rey (2), UEFA Champions League (4), UEFA Super Cup (3), FIFA Club World Cup (3)
Ramón Calderón went one better than former president Florentino Perez a year after the latter signed Ramos, by signing another brilliant teenager for less than one-quarter the price.
Sure, Marcelo took longer to establish himself at the club and Madrid are always trying to replace him for some reason, but he has developed into the best left-back in the world and has been a fundamental part of any and all Real Madrid success since his arrival. An incredible bit of business.
3. Gonzalo Higuain
Year: 2006
Transfer Fee: €12m
Trophies Won: La Liga (3), Supercopa de España (2), 2010/11 Copa del Rey, Coppa Italia (3), 2014 Supercoppa Italiana, Serie A (2)
In the same window that he signed Marcelo, Ramón Calderón also signed Gonzalo Higuain. The young Argentine was already a sensation, having shone in the famed Superclásico between River Plate and Boca Juniors. Madrid used him sparingly at first but he came to be the club’s most lethal goalscorer.
Helping Madrid win three Ligas (in one instance scoring the title-winning goal himself), Higuain developed into one of the world’s best strikers. Then Madrid sold him to sign Gareth Bale. But in Italy he was reborn, smashing in goals for Napoli and then following a gargantuan move, Juventus. Despite his consistent goalscoring exploits, the Old Lady saw fit to loan him out to AC Milan (making room for Cristiano Ronaldo) and guess what? Yes, he’s scoring goals at the San Siro too.
4. Sergio Canales
Year: 2010
Transfer Fee: €4.5m
Trophies Won: 2010/11 Copa del Rey
Signed in early 2010 and loaned back to Racing for half-a-season, Sergio Canales was one of the bright young things of Spanish football and should have become a Real Madrid legend. But when Los Blancos appointed José Mourinho and Canales had a bit of injury trouble, the Portuguese’s distaste for young talent reared its head.
Canales lasted a season at the Bernabeu before moving to Valencia. First on loan, and then permanently. He did well at the Mestalla but couldn’t overcome injuries. At Real Sociedad, he started bright, picked up a horrific injury but rebounded, playing some of his best football before moving to Real Betis in the summer.
5. Raphael Varane
Year: 2011
Transfer Fee: €10m
Trophies Won: La Liga (2), Supercopa de España (2), 2013/14 Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League (4), UEFA Super Cup (3), FIFA Club World Cup (3), 2018 World Cup
Signed as one of a clutch of players before José Mourinho’s second season in charge, not much notice was made of Varane beyond the fact that he chose Madrid over United. You can imagine how shocked everyone was that José Mourinho not only exalted this teenage talent but played him too.
Varane’s breakthrough came in 2012/13 where he was a colossus at the back. He struggled a bit after Mourinho left but recovered to play superbly. Only injuries delayed his ascension to guaranteed first choice, which finally happened this season. He’s a brilliant defender and a big game player, winning the 2018 World Cup with France and is one of the few defenders included in the conversation for Ballon d’Or winners.
6. Martin Ødegaard
Year: 2015
Transfer Fee: €4m
Trophies Won: none
Signed as a PR exercise (Carlo Ancelotti has since admitted this) because Florentino Perez wanted to dispute the claim that Real Madrid was no place for young talent, Ødegaard went on to prove that Real Madrid was no place for young talent.
Poor for the b-team, non-descript in his two first-team appearances, unimpressive in training. Ødegaard was spiralling downwards. A loan to Heerenveen gave him much-needed game-time, but he no longer looks like the blisteringly good must-have young star Madrid bought. Real decided to ship him out on loan again this season, this time to Vitesse.
7. Jesus Vallejo
Year: 2015
Transfer Fee: €6m
Trophies Won: 2017 Uefa Super Cup, 2017 FIFA Club World Cup, 2018 Champions League.
After an impressive showing in the u19 European Championship, where he helped Spain win it, Jesus Vallejo got snapped up by Real Madrid. In his first season he was loaned back to play for Zaragoza, which he did and did well.
In his second season he was loaned out to German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt. He came into his own in the Bundesliga, emerging as a key defensive force for Frankfurt. Despite playing with older players Vallejo came near the top of the team for tackles won, clearances, etc. An incredible prospect, Vallejo will be keen to build on his 12 Real Madrid appearances last season.
8. Marco Asensio
Year: 2015
Transfer Fee: €3.9m
Trophies Won: UEFA Super Cup (2), 2016/17 La Liga, UEFA Champions League (2), 2017 Supercopa de Espana, FIFA Club World Cup (2)
Like Canales, Asensio was a prodigiously gifted left-footed winger playing for a classic Liga side hit on hard times and got signed for cheap by Real Madrid and loaned back for half a season. But instead of being thrown to the wolves as Canales was, Asensio then got loaned out to Espanyol for 2015/16 and it was the making of him. Asensio notched 10 assists for the mid-table team, earning a recall to Madrid.
In his first Real Madrid game, the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla, he scored his first Real Madrid goal. A thunderbolt from 25 yards which was also Madrid’s first of the season. He then scored on his La Liga debut, Copa del Rey debut and Champions League debut.
Zinedine Zidane restricted his minutes but whenever he was on the field, Real Madrid were better than they were when he was off it. A miracle of a talent, he ended his campaign by scoring the last goal in the Champions League final, bookending the season with his brilliance. The trophies are now flowing and Madrid have got a good’un here.
9. Theo Hernandez
(Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images)
Year: 2017
Transfer fee: €24.4m
Trophies won: 2017 Supercopa de España, 2017, Uefa Super Cup, 2017, FIFA World Cup, 2018 Uefa Champions League.
Despite never featuring for their first team, Theo Hernandez earned the eternal love and respect (not) of the Atletico Madrid fans when he swapped the red and white strips for the all white of Real Madrid in 2017.
In his first season at the Bernabeu, Theo made 23 appearances with his best chances coming in cup competition. Regardless, he has thickened out his trophy cabinet and will now look to thicken out his first team experience during his loan spell with Real Sociedad this season.
Don’t ask him if he’s been getting jealous watching his brother, Lucas (still at Atletico), lifting the World Cup with France in the summer.
10. Andriy Lunin
(Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images)
Year: 2018
Transfer fee: €8.65m
Trophies won: None
Andriy Lunin signed for Real Madrid in June 2018 and within a month, his signing was eclipsed and forgotten about with the arrival of Thibaut Courtois.
Lunin has since been loaned at out to Leganes, where he is struggling for game time. However, with two caps for Ukraine already under his belt, the 19-year-old is obviously a talent and has plenty of time on his side.
11. Vinicius Junior
(Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Year: 2018
Transfer fee: €45m
Trophies won: None
€45m seems like a gargantuan amount of money to spend on a teenager whose only real experience was 69 games for Brazilian side Flamengo.
However, if the early signs are anything to go by, it is going to be money very well spent. Vinicius smashed in four goals in five games for the Real Madrid B team (Castilla) and, with the first team really struggling for form, got his call up. Vinicius has made four substite appearances since, clocking up just 57 minutes but has already made his presence felt, managing a goal and an assist during that time.
By the time Rodrygo Goes joins the party next year, Vinicius may well be a key man for Los Blancos and an inspiration for his compatriot.
The post What happened next? Every teenager signed by Real Madrid since 2000 appeared first on Squawka News.
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