Following the €60m signing of Endrick, GOAL runs through the 12 teenage talents Los Blancos have signed since 2013…
It is no secret that Real Madrid wanted Neymar when he first exploded onto the scene at Santos. The Spanish giants were reportedly in the mix for some time until the Brazilian star signed for Barcelona in 2013.
After Madrid missed out on securing Neymar's services, their recruitment policy shifted to stealing a march on their rivals by targeting the game's most exciting young players.
The Spanish giants have since signed 12 high-profile teenage talents, but it's fair to say that very few have been unqualified successes.
While Eduardo Camavinga, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo are presently starring for the senior side, the likes of Jesus Vallejo, Martin Odegaard and Take Kubo quickly disappeared into the Madrid loan circuit.
Madrid are not to be deterred, though, as underlined by their decision to pay a staggering €60 million (£52m/$63.5m) for the 16-year-old Palmeiras forward Endrick.
So, where does he rank among the most gifted youngsters Real have snapped up during the past decade?..
Real Madrid12Jesus Vallejo
Joining Madrid as a centre-back in 2016 was always going to be tricky. The Sergio Ramos-Raphael Varane partnership was at its dominant best. And even though a loan move was always likely, Vallejo has still failed to make his mark on the first team, despite being at the club for nearly six years. He's been loaned out three times and, at 25 years old, still hasn't played a full season of football. However, given Madrid only paid €5m (£4.4m/$5.3m) for Vallejo, his failure hasn't proven too costly.
AdvertisementGetty Images11Reinier
Even for Madrid, notorious for some questionable transfer business, this was a bad one. Reinier was signed from Flamengo for €30 million (£26m/$32m) in 2019 while he was still only 17. At the time, the deal did seem to make some sense. An exciting attacking player with an eye for goal, Reinier was raw but also theoretically coachable into whatever position Madrid needed. But he failed to impress for the reserves and is now out on loan at Girona after failing to make the grade at Borussia Dortmund. Los Blancos may yet sell him for a decent fee, but it's unlikely he will ever play a game for Madrid.
Getty Images10Takefusa Kubo
It's hard to recall a player who generated more online hype than the Japanese winger. Kubo enjoyed immense success in the Barcelona academy before a breach of FIFA transfer policy meant Kubo had to return to Japan. Madrid snapped him up in 2019, with copious videos of Kubo's tricky feet doing the rounds on social media. But Kubo never reached the heights expected of him and, within three years, he had been sold to Real Sociedad.
Getty Images9Theo Hernandez
The Hernandez case is an interesting one. The Frenchman is considered one of the best left-backs in the game today – and might soon have a World Cup winner's medal. Yet former Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane didn't rate his compatriot. Real took Hernandez from Atletico Madrid's B team after a breakout campaign at Alaves, shelling out nearly €25 million to bring him to the Santiago Bernabeu. Hernandez was 19 at the time, had all the skills required to be a long-term replacement for Marcelo and made 23 appearances during the 2017-18 season. However, he was shipped off on loan to Sociedad in 2018 before being sold to AC Milan in 2019. It was a great move for Theo, who has gone from strength to strength at San Siro, but a dreadful deal by Madrid, who let him leave for just €20m (£17m/$21m).