It is one of the main differences between La Liga arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.
While both of the Spanish giants have productive youth academies, few Madrid products make it to their first team. In contrast, La Masia regularly provides Barca with stars such as current teenage duo Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, among others.
Last year, a study by the CIES Football Observatory found Madrid had the fourth-most profitable youth academy in world football after earning €364million ($402m; £307m) via the sale of academy players from 2014-2023. According to another study by the group published this month, Madrid also have the most productive European academy, with 67 of its graduates playing in leagues across the world, compared to 64 from Barca’s.
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Even so, last year, the CIES also found Madrid gave just 24.6 per cent of first-team minutes to homegrown players, only the 11th-best figure across Europe’s top five leagues.
Also, those who do make it to the first team at the Bernabeu often have to take the so-called ‘Via Carvajal’, or Carvajal route, of moving to another club before returning through a favourable buy-back clause — as the veteran right-back did when he left for Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 before Madrid bought him from the German side a year later. Since then, Carvajal has made 421 appearances for his boyhood club and lifted 26 trophies.
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This summer, Madrid made €30.5million from academy player exits. Twenty-three youngsters left the club in the window just ended.
So, who are they, and can any of them hope to return to the Bernabeu? Our Real Madrid reporters Guillermo Rai and Mario Cortegana look at a selection to find out…
Nico Paz (attacking midfielder, 19, sold to Como)
Within Madrid, Paz was seen as the player in their academy most suited to the elite. He made his Champions League debut at the Bernabeu in November and was instrumental in a 4-2 group-stage win against Napoli that night, when he scored his first senior goal.
Born in Spain but an Argentina youth international — he is the son of the former Argentina defender Pablo Paz — he stands out for his left foot, technique and ability to play off the right. However, Paz was given fewer and fewer opportunities as last season progressed, ending with 10 goals and four assists in 29 appearances for Castilla, the club’s reserve team, made up of youth players, who play in the third division.
He travelled with Madrid’s first team on their pre-season tour of the United States, scoring a goal in El Clasico in New Jersey, but the board did not see a place for him given the presence of Dani Ceballos in the squad. He left for Como, newly promoted to Italy’s Serie A, for €6million in late August, with Madrid retaining a buy-back option covering 2025, 2026 and 2027.
Martin was seen as the other youth player most likely to stay in the first-team picture at Madrid, along with Paz — Carlo Ancelotti holds him in high esteem and he started all three of their pre-season games in the States this summer.
Those matches led the club and Ancelotti to realise he needed more prominence. He met Valladolid just after the U.S. tour and agreed to go there on loan, despite interest from other Spanish clubs, including Girona.
Martin playing for Valladolid against Madrid last month (Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Martin is known for his off-the-ball work, positional ability and calmness in possession — all of which could prove especially useful if he does return in the future, given how many talented forwards they have.
Theo Zidane (midfielder, 22, sold to Cordoba)
The Zidane name did not end at Madrid with Zinedine’s departure as coach in summer 2021 — for many years, the former midfielder turned manager’s sons have kept the tradition alive in the academy.
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His eldest, Enzo, is a midfielder who left for Alaves in 2017. His second-born, Luca, is a goalkeeper who made two first-team appearances for Madrid in 2018 and 2019 and now plays for Granada. Elyaz, an 18-year-old centre-back, joined Real Betis in January — which left Theo as the only Zidane in the academy… until this summer.
Theo first came to the club at age eight, when his father was back working at the club having retired as a player, and spent three years with Castilla from 2021, a step which Madrid consider to be ideal for a player’s development. He had renewed his deal on a yearly basis until his decision to leave in this most recent window.
Ancelotti called him up to the first team twice last season, during which he was also a starter for the reserve team, but he did not make a senior appearance. He left as a free agent to Cordoba, in the Spanish second division, with Madrid retaining some of his economic rights (meaning they have a say in a player’s future).
Lucas Canizares (goalkeeper, 22, sold to Farense)
Canizares also has a famous father — he is the son of the former Madrid, Valencia and Spain goalkeeper Santiago.
Having joined the academy at 12, he was Castilla manager Raul’s first-choice ’keeper last season and had trained with the first team, who called him up for last year’s Club World Cup due to Thibaut Courtois’ long-term injury absence. But the club thought he’d fulfilled his cycle at Castilla and worked to find a way out for him.
He joined Portuguese side Farense in August on a free transfer, with Madrid retaining a right of first refusal and buy-back clauses for 2025 and 2026.
Rafa Marin (centre-back, 22, sold to Napoli)
Marin excelled for Castilla. He never appeared for Madrid’s first team but was loaned to fellow La Liga side Alaves in 2023 with the idea that he would develop in Spanish football’s elite and, all being well, join Ancelotti’s squad for pre-season this summer.
His season at Alaves went well — he made 35 appearances across La Liga and the Copa del Rey for them — but his return was never seriously considered. The club expected veteran Nacho would leave and were convinced they would sign Leny Yoro to replace him, but the Lille centre-back ended up signing for Manchester United instead for a maximum fee of €70million.
Marin moved to Napoli this summer (Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Napoli signed Marin for an initial €11million, with an option to pay an additional €10m during the 2024-25 season to confirm their long-term ownership of the player. If the Italians do not exercise this option, Madrid will retain a €25m buy-back clause to resign him in 2025 or 2026, which will increase to €35m in 2027.
New Napoli boss Antonio Conte spoke to counterpart Ancelotti, who he played for at Juventus in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in the process of negotiating Marin’s move there.
Raul admired Rodriguez and helped his progression with Castilla, leading to his first-team debut in February 2023 and a memorable first goal in a Madrid derby against Atletico. But he has played just 107 minutes in eight senior appearances since then.
Nicknamed ‘El Toro’ — ‘the bull’ in Spanish — he is a great lover of music and cried when he scored his first goal for Castilla, as former Madrid striker Raul was one of his idols. Those at the academy showed him videos of Romelu Lukaku so he could learn the movements of a front man of similar physical stature.
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Ancelotti said he would be part of the squad for last season, but then that did not happen. Rodriguez, who chose to play for Uruguay’s youth teams after previously representing Spain, has left on a season-long loan to Getafe despite his aerial threat — something the first team are now missing after Joselu’s summer departure to Qatar’s Al Gharafa.
Alex Jimenez (full-back, 19, sold to AC Milan)
Jimenez was at La Fabrica (‘The Factory’, as Madrid’s academy is informally known) since the age of seven. The attacking full-back rose through the ranks until reaching Castilla, but wasn’t given much playing time there by manager Raul.
He first joined AC Milan, on loan with an option to buy, in 2023. He started with their under-20 ‘Primavera’ side and went on to make five appearances for the first team. He played as a left-back for the Italian side, although his natural position is on the right.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who works as an advisor to Milan’s board and is an operating partner to the club’s majority owner, RedBird, said this year that Jimenez would be a backup for left-back Theo Hernandez. The Serie A club exercised their option to buy him for €5million plus variables this summer, reserving a right of first refusal for him as well as buy-back clauses of €9m and €12m in 2025 and 2026.
Jimenez has made five appearances for Milan (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Rafael Obrador (left-back, 20, loaned to Deportivo La Coruna)
One of the youth academy’s hottest prospects last year, Obrador is a defender with plenty of attacking flare. Raul’s coaching staff saw him as another player ready to make the step up to the elite, but he had ups and downs in his 34 games for Castilla and lost his starting place at one point.
Obrador was able to showcase his talents on Madrid’s summer tour and Las Palmas were interested in him, but second-division side Deportivo eventually signed him on a one-year loan that does not include an option to buy. He did not see a place for himself in Ancelotti’s first team with Ferland Mendy and Fran Garcia both at left-back — and with the possibility of Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies and/or another former Madrid youth prospect, Girona’s Miguel Gutierrez, arriving soon.
Paulo Iago (attacking midfielder, 17, sold to Sporting Lisbon)
Iago was considered to be one of the most promising players in Madrid’s youth system — which is why he is now represented by super-agent Jorge Mendes.
He is the same age as Barcelona’s Yamal and was even pictured at a Nike commercial event with him a few years ago. But their paths have been very different since and the Madrid youngster has decided he needs a change of scene. With a contract until 2025 and the possibility of renewing it until 2026, he wasn’t convinced of the club’s plans for him and wasn’t happy with how he was treated by his last coach with the under-19s, former Madrid right-back Alvaro Arbeloa.
After intense negotiations between Madrid and his camp, the midfielder moved to Portugal’s Sporting on a three-year deal, and he is expected to start with their reserves.
(Top image: Nico Paz, left, and Theo Zidane; Getty Images)
