The document in which Real Madrid has its values recorded reads: “The universality of Real Madrid does not understand race, ideologies, cultures, religions, ways of thinking, place of origin or social condition.
A universal Real Madrid is a global, multicultural Real Madrid”.
This declaration of principles reached its culmination this Saturday when the white team took to the pitch at La Cerámica with an eleven without a single Spanish player for the first time in its history.
The extreme globalization of the team has been a process of years in which the national players have been losing weight.
Today, Carvajal is the only one who has a fixed position in the eleven and, faced with his loss, Ancelotti decided to trust Militão instead of Lucas Vázquez, achieving a milestone for the club.
The paradox was rounded off by Villarreal:
In addition to Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez, the other Spaniards that make up the Real Madrid squad are Nacho, Odriozola, Vallejo, Ceballos, Mariano and Asensio.
Nacho, Ceballos, Mariano and Asensio end their contracts at the end of this season and their continuity is up in the air.
Among the eight, they have five goals this season (three from Asensio and two from Lucas) in 3,654 minutes, more than a third of them from Carvajal (1,377).
Lucas (699), Asensio (574) and Nacho (504) are the next with the most minutes, although none have more than six starts this season.
Real Madrid has modified its squad structuring policy as a result of changes in the transfer market and especially since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The rise of the powers of the Premier and teams like PSG has inflated prices so much that the club that signed the greatest figures on the planet with a checkbook in the first decade of the 21st century, that of "the zidanes and the pavones ”, has come to have to look for market opportunities, such as the zero-cost arrivals of Alaba in 2021 and Rudiger in 2022.
Since the signing of Hazard for 115 million euros, who was 28 years old in 2019, the whites have only invested money in young players aged 24 or less and controlling costs a lot.
Tchouameni (22 years old), who signed this summer for 80 million euros, has been the club's only major excess since the pandemic broke out, although the real target was Kylian Mbappé, whose arrival was frustrated at the last moment.
Mbappé's experience endorsed Madrid's strategy of looking for pearls to polish instead of going to buy the diamond.
Vinicius, Rodrygo, Valverde or Militão arrived at Valdebebas very young and are now heavyweights in the European champion team.
Others, like Reinier, Odegaard or Kubo, have had to leave because their explosion took too long.
The last bet of the white team is a 16-year-old boy named Endrick (for whom the club pays between 25 and 60 million depending on the variables), who will not be able to join the team until he reaches the age of majority in 2024.
But Real Madrid has not bet on any Spanish player since the arrivals of Odriozola, Mariano and Brahim Díaz in 2019. Real Madrid's scouting network focuses its gaze far from the borders of Spain to avoid the great dilemma that the market presents national: the greatest Spanish talents are from Barcelona.
Pedri (20 years old) and Gavi (18) are the latest winners of the Golden Boy award for the best young player and their price on Transfermakt is 100 and 90 million respectively.
Without great attractions to invest, Madrid has not found a boost in the quarry either.
Players like Morata, Marcos Llorente or Mayoral have served to make cash after they couldn't get a place in the first team.
The only player in the current squad who has gone directly from Valdebebas to the Bernabéu is Nacho.
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