Real Madrid academy players give up on playing for club – ‘I hope my son can play for Getafe’

Real Madrid’s academy players at Valdebebas have no hope of making it to the first team – at least that is according to the youngsters themselves.

Los Blancos are renowned for producing players, but very few make it amongst their own ranks. Nacho Fernandez was the last player to make the jump from the academy to the first team, but that is now a decade in the past.

Those who leave do have the possibility of coming back. Fran Garcia, Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez all proved they could hack it at Rayo Vallecano, Bayer Leverkusen and Espanyol before Los Blancos gave them a chance, bringing them back. Joselu Mato has also returned to the club, although again more than a decade after leaving.

Speaking to Relevo academy players confessed that they are no longer aiming to play for Real Madrid.

“I hope to reach the First Division. Here we work every day for it. We want to become professionals and we know that it is very complicated. Playing in Madrid’s first team is now impossible”

Meanwhile parents too are aspiring for their children to play for Madrid’s other La Liga clubs.

“It would be a dream for my son to reach Getafe, for example. Many people tell me that so many hours here in Valdebebas for my son not to arrive in the end. But getting to the First Division would be amazing.”

As is noted by the report, a large part of the reason for the contrast with Barcelona is the fact that there is little need for Castilla players to be used. Los Blancos have a squad full of professionals, while Barcelona only have 19 first-team players, five of which are already academy products.

Real Madrid continue to produce footballers – their 43 Castilla graduates (to Barcelona’s 38) is the highest number of any academy in Europe’s top five leagues. Nevertheless, if necessity is the mother of all opportunity, without opportunity, there is no way of knowing how these players can develop.