Famed for smashing world transfer records for the best players in the world, Real adapted their approach around 8 years ago in the wake of the increased financial strength of the Premier League and the emergence of oil clubs like PSG. It was no longer easy for them to get superstars at prime ages from PL heavyweights. They were always interested in Aguero, but could never really bully City. They effectively got what was left of Hazard by the time Chelsea was done with him, which was a lot later than they had hoped. When Pogba left Juventus in 2016, they would not match the 90m played by United, and when Mbappé left Monaco a year later, they could not compete with PSG.
So they changed their approach and started paying big money for relatively untested super talents
In 2017, Real Madrid made headlines for paying €46m to sign 17 year old Vinicius Junior from Flamengo. He had made only a handful of professional appearances and Real paid his release clause, to the surprise of many.
The following year, they repeated that strategy by paying €45m for Rodrygo from Santos when the player was also 17.
In 2022, Real paid €60m to Palmeiras to acquire the services of the 16 year old Endrick.
They have done other deals for young talent like Camavinga and Guler, but they were more proven at the time. In return, Real have gotten a player who has a good case to be the best player in the world at the moment (Vinicius), who has scored the winning goal in a CL final for them, and also another regular starting forward who has scored huge CL knockout goals (Rodrygo). The strategy hasn’t always worked, they signed Renier from Flamengo at 18 years old for €30m which has been a failure. Add in more expensive young talent like Bellingham and Tchouameni - they have almost completely moved away from trying to sign Chelsea, United, Arsenal players now, but have gone in paying absolute top dollar where others may consider it a risk. And it’s a risk that has paid off.
Anyway, I say all that to say, should we be employing a similar transfer strategy? Chelsea have arguably gone down a similar route. We are so far from the top now, I’m not sure we will get the value to recover from signing seasoned pros. The competition is fierce, wages are high, and we need too many to be able to get enough of them at the 25 year old range. Players like Neves have been discussed here, with many feeling we shouldn’t spend big on a 19 year old. The thing is, we are now struggling to get the 26 year old version from Barcelona.
It is a fair argument that Real were in a far stronger position when they embarked upon this strategy. But I do think we should be aggressively going after players like Neves, Doué, Nusa, Estevão, Yoro where possible. Their wages are low at this point too. Another benefit of such an approach, if it works, is that Real have built a team spirit. You get to create something like a Class of 92 or La Masia environment within the team because all of these players are beginning their senior journeys together.
Once players like Vini, Rodrygo and Endrick are 23/24 on good contracts at clubs like City, Paris, Chelsea - they are beyond the reach of even Real Madrid. Rashford could leave this summer but we can’t get Vini, Rodrygo, Mbappé, Saka anymore - and the others like Williams and co are a level below.
So they changed their approach and started paying big money for relatively untested super talents
In 2017, Real Madrid made headlines for paying €46m to sign 17 year old Vinicius Junior from Flamengo. He had made only a handful of professional appearances and Real paid his release clause, to the surprise of many.
The following year, they repeated that strategy by paying €45m for Rodrygo from Santos when the player was also 17.
In 2022, Real paid €60m to Palmeiras to acquire the services of the 16 year old Endrick.
They have done other deals for young talent like Camavinga and Guler, but they were more proven at the time. In return, Real have gotten a player who has a good case to be the best player in the world at the moment (Vinicius), who has scored the winning goal in a CL final for them, and also another regular starting forward who has scored huge CL knockout goals (Rodrygo). The strategy hasn’t always worked, they signed Renier from Flamengo at 18 years old for €30m which has been a failure. Add in more expensive young talent like Bellingham and Tchouameni - they have almost completely moved away from trying to sign Chelsea, United, Arsenal players now, but have gone in paying absolute top dollar where others may consider it a risk. And it’s a risk that has paid off.
Anyway, I say all that to say, should we be employing a similar transfer strategy? Chelsea have arguably gone down a similar route. We are so far from the top now, I’m not sure we will get the value to recover from signing seasoned pros. The competition is fierce, wages are high, and we need too many to be able to get enough of them at the 25 year old range. Players like Neves have been discussed here, with many feeling we shouldn’t spend big on a 19 year old. The thing is, we are now struggling to get the 26 year old version from Barcelona.
It is a fair argument that Real were in a far stronger position when they embarked upon this strategy. But I do think we should be aggressively going after players like Neves, Doué, Nusa, Estevão, Yoro where possible. Their wages are low at this point too. Another benefit of such an approach, if it works, is that Real have built a team spirit. You get to create something like a Class of 92 or La Masia environment within the team because all of these players are beginning their senior journeys together.
Once players like Vini, Rodrygo and Endrick are 23/24 on good contracts at clubs like City, Paris, Chelsea - they are beyond the reach of even Real Madrid. Rashford could leave this summer but we can’t get Vini, Rodrygo, Mbappé, Saka anymore - and the others like Williams and co are a level below.