Which Real Madrid prospect has the most upside?

Real Madrid have signed several excellent young players over the past few years, but who has the most upside?

In the summer of 2018, Real Madrid signed left winger Vinicius Junior from Flamengo, and the teenager has quickly become an important part of the squad, even dominating FC Barcelona in a March Clasico this past season.

One year later, Los Blancos added a couple of more talented young players in Brazilian center back Eder Militao, Bundesliga striker Luka Jovic, and Santos star Rodrygo Goes. Militao shined in a few starts alongside Raphael Varane, Jovic had only brief moments of playing time to show his traits, and Rodrygo scored a fairytale perfect hat-trick in the Champions League after an incredible debut goal within seconds of his September introduction vs. Osasuna.

Real Madrid’s prospects on loan are just as impressive. Real Sociedad’s Martin Odegaard was one of the league’s top players this season, Takefusa Kubo turned heads at Mallorca, Andriy Lunin made some huge saves, Achraf Hakimi had a tremendous season for Borussia Dortmund, and Oscar Rodriguez scored several bangers for Leganes.

Los Blancos even added another great young player from Brazil, signing attacking midfielder Reinier Jesus from Flamengo. And Reinier quickly established himself as a player to watch at Castilla, with a potentially big La Liga loan move on the horizon in 2020-2021.

Out of all these tremendous young talents, who has the most upside? The focus quickly turns to the two high-priced winger prospects from Brazil’s Serie A in the last two summer windows, as Rodrygo and Vinicius have already been standouts for Los Blancos. Both players have the upside to be Ballon d’Or winners and are held in high regard worldwide.

Picking between them is extremely difficult, but if I had to choose, I would go with Rodrygo.

In his first season with Real Madrid, Rodrygo looked like a future superstar and showed advanced attacking traits. His understanding of space off the ball is uncanny, as is his passing accuracy for a player at his position.

Per WhoScored.com, he completed 89.4 percent of his passes last season, with only Toni Kroos and Sergio Ramos bettering that mark among Madrid players. That’s an insane passing accuracy percentage for any attacking player, least of all a player who was 18 years old for most of the 2019-2020 season.

Rodrygo can do it all. His hat-trick against Galatasaray showed off his ability to score from any situation. His composure and technical quality are breathtaking for a young player, as his slick left-footed volley goal against Club Brugge can attest. Or even his first touch and cool finish against Osasuna for the second-fastest debut goal in Real Madrid history after No. 9 Ronaldo’s.

The man has all the tools – mental, physical, and technical – to dominate La Liga and the Champions League in a few years. Based on his output against Galatasaray and Brugge, he already has the traits to make it big in that competition, albeit against the smaller teams.

Rodrygo led all Los Blancos players with 0.80 goals and assists per 90 minutes (minus penalties) in all competitions last season, per FBRef.com. Yes, he was even more efficient than Benzema, and he accomplished this as an 18-year-old in his first La Liga and Champions League seasons.

Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid will be careful with Rodrygo’s development, allowing him to boss around Castilla to continue boosting his confidence. But sooner rather than later, Rodrygo will show how special he is.