Real Madrid Castilla manager Raul Gonzalez has stuck up for the academy players at La Fabrica, claiming that the only difference between their youth products and those having success at Barcelona are opportunities.
With Marc Casado, Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal impressing at Barcelona, and Real Madrid going through an injury crisis but rarely using youngsters, there has been plenty of talk about the difference between the two approaches. During Los Blancos’ last game though, Carlo Ancelotti did use Raul Asencio after Eder Militao fell to injury.
“Asencio’s incursion has given a boost to the youth players. It has given them hope of reaching the first team and also allows them to confront the discourse of comparison with the Barcelona youth academy,” he told Sport.
Raul also noted that the opportunities at Real Madrid are not being given to the players, despite the fact they are good enough in his eyes. A statement that can only lead to the conclusion that he feels Carlo Ancelotti is not being fair to them.
“Real Madrid has gone through one of the best moments in history and the demands of the first team are not easy at all. With Asencio’s incursion it has been shown that the boys are prepared, like others who have passed through here and triumphed in other leagues. The Real Madrid youth team is prepared and has shown it.”
“The only thing missing is for those opportunities to arrive that arise due to circumstances and that perhaps have come at other clubs. What is clear is that Madrid is the best academy.”
Ancelotti has rarely called on players from the academy at Real Madrid, and neither have they been given a big role by Zinedine Zidane before him. He has reasoned in the past that it is very difficult to get into the first team, and that his job is to win games not bring players through. Recent reports claim that even with the injuries, Ancelotti is not confident in the quality of the youngsters coming through from Castilla.
This one is easy to verify – Raul is 100% correct. In the past 10 years the under 17 and under 19 teams did not have much difference (Real Madrid vs Barca). However, while Barca dabble with trying out outside players – lots in recent times, they actually allow their youth talent to be tried out in the main team. This does not mean mandatory game time but a genuine effort to integrate youth into the full squad. Not all make it and in the very recent times Barca have had to rely more on thier youth because of the financial crisis… BUT regardless of good or bad time, Real Madrid prefer to buy non-Castilla 18 year olds and develop them. I support Ancelotti a lot and think he is the perfect coach for Real Madrid but also know that he is correct in saying that he has been hired to win games. This paints an interesting picture where the board and management at Madrid knowingly are killing the chances of local players. While Vini Jnr is a top player now, we do remember the raw, mis-firing prodigy that he was a few years ago. In some other era a player like that would have been shown the door or loaned out. A lot of good talent has come out of the academy recently… yet go elsewhere to continue their development. The selfish attitude of just winning titles now (inflates reputation of the coach , president and board) eventually comes back to bite them. It must hurt to suddenly notice that the Spanish National team is once again built with Barca players and the ones that Real Madrid discarded years ago. The fact that not a single Real Madid player is in the current National squad must hurt. I am a life-long Madrid fan.
Then why they spend all those millions to buy ready players from other clubs and how many players of their academy they have in their first team especially from their first 11 ask Raul maybe he will tell us