Comment deleted by Site Moderator

comment by Arsene Jenga. (U3732)
posted 3 hours, 36 minutes ago
How much did that Odegaard kid go for?
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He's on loan. Still only 18.

Madrid have actually spent very well on youth over the past decade or so. People just have this preconceived notion that we constantly spunk the cash and confirmation bias does the rest.

Here's a quick run through the most prominent teenage signings we've made in the past 11 years:

Vinicius Jr (16): €45M?!?! Wtf?!?!

Odegaard (16): €3.5M. Out on loan in Holland and not looking good, but not all is lost. At only 18 can still be seen as a work in progress.

Asensio (18): looking $hit-hot. A snip at €3.9M.

Jesús Vallejo (18): €5M CB from Zaragoza, out on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt with whom he's had an outstanding first season.

Varane (18): not reallly world class, but working acceptably well so far. Not a bad buy for €10M.

Canales (19): €4.5M signing by Valdano for Pellegrini; arrived when Mourinho had already landed. Barely given chances and loaned out. Did his ACL twice in succession at Valencia, despite which they took out a permanent deal on him for €7M, so Madrid made a modest profit.

Higuaín (18): €13M, big success and big profit

Marcelo (18): €6.5M, huge success

Ramos (19): €27M, massive success


To all of the above, you could add Drenthe (20), clearly the biggest flop of the lot, a €14M write-off

All signed at 21:

Hits/big hits:
Isco
Ozil
Casemiro
Benzema
Robinho - hear me out ... we played that one to near-perfection ...signed for €24M, sold for €42M, won two league titles in 3 seasons. 3rd highest goalscorer and 2nd-most assists in that time.

Flops:
Garay, €4.5M loss, should've done better with him;
Lucas Silva €14M, still on our books, but back in Brazil on loan and looking like a total write-off;
Diogo, €6M, sold for €3M, €3M loss. Did this guy even exist?

Can't be bothered listing the 22 year olds. The profit from the Di María sale virtually paid for all the others in this age bracket.

Surely if you include Marcelo and Higuain you have to include Gago too seeing that you signed them pretty much on the same day.

Ridiculous as it is, the Vinicius kid does look to have quite a high ceiling and you guys might be desperate for a Ronaldo replacement

Odegaard was a proper waste, I never even thought he looked that good. Just grew quicker than other players in his age group.

Marcelo and Ramos signings though

BTW does Kroos also deserve a mention?

Asensio does look brilliant. Everything I wished Walcott would be.

comment by wump (U5046)
posted 17 minutes ago
BTW does Kroos also deserve a mention?
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If we were to sell him now he'd easily be worth 70mill+

Yes, but it would be ridiculous to do so. He's a great great player

Yeah it was a proper bargain the fee we paid to get him. Only 25mill we paid for him

comment by Arthur Johnson (U6426)
posted 1 day, 1 hour ago
Alright, peks?

Campeones, ¡por fin!
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good to win it again after quite a while

comment by wump (U5046)
posted 7 hours, 10 minutes ago
Surely if you include Marcelo and Higuain you have to include Gago too seeing that you signed them pretty much on the same day.
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Gago was 22, therefore included in my last line:

Can't be bothered listing the 22 year olds. The profit from the Di María sale virtually paid for all the others in this age bracket.

There weren't that many other 22 year olds in the period.

I didn't include players being brought back by our triggering buyback clauses either. They're inserted for good reason.

comment by wump (U5046)
posted about 2 hours ago
BTW does Kroos also deserve a mention?
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No, he was 24 when we signed him, which, for example and if memory serves, was the same age Ronaldo and Bale were signed.

I did say 'youth', then 'teenagers'; I already felt that 22 was stretching it a bit.

Another pretty surprising fact:

Even going back to include the ridiculous outlay for the 2009-10 season, our net spend since then is actually noticeably lower than Barça's.

If you lop that one off and look solely at this decade, theirs dwarves ours. I worked it out the other day, can't be bothered to do it again, but I seem to recall it was about double.

And look at the state they're in now compared to us!

LAB!

comment by peks (U6618)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by Arthur Johnson (U6426)
posted 1 day, 1 hour ago
Alright, peks?

Campeones, ¡por fin!
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good to win it again after quite a while


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It was the one I really wanted this year.

Would love to do the double, but it's going to be a huge ask - Juve look soooo solid.

Who do you lot think will be the successor to Modric in a couple of years time? Do you think Kovacic has enough in him to make the first team role his or will we be looking at someone like Verratti as a Galactico signing soon?

That really is an impressive list, ioag.

comment by peks (U6618)
posted 4 hours, 20 minutes ago
comment by Arthur Johnson (U6426)
posted 1 day, 1 hour ago
Alright, peks?

Campeones, ¡por fin!
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good to win it again after quite a while


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Congrats peks

Speaking of ioag, Madrid haven't signed any old players really for quite a while except maybe Navas. Do you think it has anything to do with trying to remain competitive after building the new stadium due to expected shortage of funds during that period?

Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the last player I think we signed that was 30 years old and stayed for more than a season. He played great for us.

Comment deleted by Article Creator

comment by wump (U5046)
posted 3 hours, 54 minutes ago
comment by peks (U6618)
posted 4 hours, 20 minutes ago
comment by Arthur Johnson (U6426)
posted 1 day, 1 hour ago
Alright, peks?

Campeones, ¡por fin!
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good to win it again after quite a while


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Congrats peks

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thanks Wumpy

European champions!

comment by Zlatan The King Ibrahimovic (U10026)
posted 1 minute ago
European champions!
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well done Daz

see yous in the super cup

comment by ⛧nadz⛧ - White blood in my veins, pure football in my heart, Hala Madrid🎭 (U20251)
posted 3 hours, 21 minutes ago
Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the last player I think we signed that was 30 years old and stayed for more than a season. He played great for us.
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No, we signed old cants under Mourinho.

Carvalho, took Essien on loan, Altintop must've been pushing 30 or beyond ... and I think there was someone else I can't quite put my finger on now.