In 2020, Zidane's Real Madrid had an average age of 30 years and six months. The oldest in the club's history. O Real Madrid had won four Champions Leagues in the decade previous, but the players had grown older and needed replacing . And, while Real Madrid were once the kings of the tansfer market, able to sign the very best players at the peak of their careers, the rise of sovereign wealth in football and growing financial power of the Premier League demanded a different , more creative regenaration strategy. In response, Real Madrid radically changed their approach, taking a risk which might be about to pay off. The most famous period of Real's recent history was the Galactico era.
Conceived by president Florentino Perez as a challenge to traditional ideas around team-building, it was also a means of turning Real Madrid into a highlylucrative and commercialized footballing fantasy. The intention , each summer , was to sign the best player in the world and it facilitated a process which would see Real sign some of the most expensive players in history, hold the world transfer record for a combined 16 years in a row and become the undisputed kings of transfer market. In 2000, upon his election to the presidency, Perez famously stole Luis Figo away from Barcelona, breaking the world transfer record in the process ( £37m). In 2001, Zinedine Zidane would join for another fee of £46.6m
And although not records, the club then spent big frees of the Brazilian Ronaldo in 2002, and England Captain David Beckham in 2003. Six years later, after another run of high profile, high cost signings, they would break their own transfer record twice in the same summer, first signing Kaka from AC Milan and then paying £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo. In 2013, Perez and Real Madrid would again set a new transfer higbar for the last time , paying £86m for Tottenham's Gareth Bale. Angel Di Maria , Luka Modric arrived before Bale, and James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos joined after. While Real Madrid fans were enjoying their Galacticos era, a different type of club ownership began to appear in football , one that would change the future of the sport. Roman Abramovitch beban that trent in 2003,when he bought Chelsea. In 2008, The abu Dhabi Group completed acquisition of Manchester City. Qatar Sports Investments asquired PAris Saint Germain in 2011. And, most recently, Newcastle United were purchased by the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Combined and in increments , the presence of oligarch and sovereign wleath in football changed the parameters of the transfer market, so much so that the original Real Madrid approach of outbidding rivals and cherry picking the most famous or finest players in the world, wasn't viable for any club without limiless resources.
REsources that Real Madrid did not have .But it was perhaps a deal with a more traditional that provoked a change in strategy at Real Madrid. According to Spanish daily AS, following Neymar's more to Barcelona, Real reacted to the cost of that transfer and its various add-ons, by doing a 180° degree turn in its international policy and (by) increasing its efforts to capture young brazilian talents who (were ) destined to become the new Neymar. In 2014, Juni Calafat arrived at the club to lead that operation. Today, Calafat is Real's Head of International football, but his influence on the first team and what that reprensents has been clear for some time. He advised on the prior signing of Casemiro, but also led the acquisition of Fede Valverde in 2016 ( 5m EUR ), Vinicius Jr in 2018 ( 45m EUR) and Rodrygo ( 45 m EUR ) and Eder Militao ( 50 m EUR) in 2019. His track record isn't without blemishes. Nor did Real's evolving strategy preclude them from making ugly lunges for Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic in 2019, both of which were unsuccessful, costly and reminiscent of prior thinking. Yet in the year since, the club's commitment to this new approach has hardened. Alongside the rise of sovereign wealth in football , the Premier LEague's economic superiority has grown, meaning that many more clubs are able to compete for players. The top of the market is no longer their territory alone and it has become increasignly difficult to strike efficient deals for marquee players in the prime of their career. So, in response , they've targeted their considerable resources at a different part of the market. in the pandemis affected summer of 2020, the club famously signed nobody. Ever since, a tradition has emerged - Real have targeted ( and generally signed) the most desirable young player available. Eduardo Camavinga ( 18) in 2021, Aurelien Tchouameni ( 22 ) in 2022 and , most recently, Jude Bellingham ( 19) in 2023 . Brazilian Endrick will also move to Madrid in 2024.
If Real are ever able to capture Kylian Pbappe, whom they have a long-term interest in , that would obviously be an outlier - although, still aged just 24, maybe Mbappe would be cast more as a bridge between the old approach and the new? Arguably , his best years are still ahead of him. Skewing younger comes with risk.It's a gamble. Younger players need longer periods of adjustment and are also more prone to fluctuations in form. Rodrygo reportedly endured maturity issues upon arriving at the club. And Aurlien Tchouameni suffered a significant downturn in performance following the 2022 World Cup. It also goes without saying that blue chip potential doesn't always convert into top tier influence on a smooth curve. Nor does it translate immediately into commercial success. Real Madrid have lost and will continue to lose some of the most marketable players in the game over recent seasons and while players like Vinicius, Tchouameni, Camavinga and Bellingham could one day inhabit the same territory, that will be a process. Both Ronaldos arrived as stars, so did Beckham and Figo, today , the club are growing rather than importing icons. Carlo Ancelotti has been coy about succession plans, particularly with regard to his midfield, but three years after the oldest average aged LaLiga line up in Real's history, he is in a position to field a team of seven outfield players who are 25 or younger during the 2023/24 season. and , importantly, to pick a group of players who could spend much of the next decade together.
Ali Amadgohus
Football Manager