Real Madrid remains loyal to its policy of hunting for young talent. But while Madrid go “hunting” all over the world, a series of European clubs are also waiting outside the La Fabrica academy to attract Los Blancos’ young talents.
A series of young Real Madrid talents are in the sights of European clubs.
Following the success of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes and Endrick, Real Madrid has just brought two more promising talents to the Bernabeu. They are midfielders Franco Mastantuono (17 years old) and Abdellah Ouazane (16 years old) from River Plate and Ajax Amsterdam. But while searching for “rough diamonds” everywhere, Los Blancos themselves are also facing the risk of “losing blood”.
These days, foreign scouts are lurking outside La Fabrica, looking to steal Real Madrid’s brightest young talents. The three names that have attracted the most attention are Jesus Fortea (18), Diego Aguado (18) and Victor Valdepenas (18). All three play in defence, and are mainstays of Los Blancos’ Juvenil (U19) team.
According to AS, before signing a professional contract until 2029, Fortea had received offers from “two clubs that are in the Champions League, Serie A and Bundesliga”. If he had agreed to leave, the right-back would have immediately played for the first team and received a much higher salary. However, the arrival of coach Alvaro Arbeloa at Castilla and the opportunity to play for the first team have kept Fortea at Real Madrid.
Young defender Jesus Fortea has rejected several offers to stay at Real Madrid.
Aguado is a little different. Although he also signed a contract extension until 2029 a few months ago, the player who can play both at centre-back and left-back is being chased by Dortmund. The German club have even offered €6 million for Aguado, but he will probably only make a decision about his future after returning from the FIFA Club World Cup.
Similarly, the third name, versatile defender Valdepenas, is also being pursued by Dortmund, Leverkusen and Arsenal. And in addition to this trio, a series of other young talents from La Fabrica are also in the sights of many clubs. Among them, striker Gonzalo Garcia has attracted the attention of Premier League representatives, while winger Victor Munoz is the target of Getafe, Vallecano, Alaves and a Bundesliga club.
Clearly, the products of La Fabrica are becoming hot commodities. This fact reflects the superior quality of Real Madrid ‘s academy , which has introduced a series of bright talents such as Miguel Gutierrez (Girona), Rafa Marin (Napoli), Takefusa Kubo (Sociedad) and most recently Nico Paz (Como). However, not everyone is talented enough to stay in the first team of Los Blancos, and must seek opportunities elsewhere.
La Fabrica is even luckier than La Masia
. For a long time, everyone has assumed that Barca’s La Masia academy is the most prestigious academy. But according to a report in March by the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES), La Fabrica is number 1. In the last 20 years, Real Madrid’s academy has provided 166 players for the 5 major European leagues, while La Masia only had 156 and PSG’s academy ranked 3rd with 111 players.