Real Madrid have three of the generation’s best prospects
The Guardian released its list of 60 of the best footballers born in 2003, and Real Madrid were well-represented.
Real Madrid have some of the greatest players of the modern game playing in their first team. Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal, Casemiro, Thibaut Courtois, and Marcelo have been top-five players at their positions during their Madrid careers, with all but Courtois winning Champions League after Champions League for Los Blancos.
But all that experienced talent is sharing the space with the next generation of players. The likes of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes, and Takefusa Kubo are fixtures on the Golden Boy lists. They are among Real’s emerging talents with the potential to become world-class players.
Outside of the first team and the loan army, Real Madrid also have some incredibly gifted players plying their trade in La Fabrica. And three of their youth prospects were named among the 60 best footballers in the world of the next generation, born in 2003.
Promising goal-scorer Israel Salazar, arguably the club’s most exciting prospect, made the list. Skillful center midfielder Takuhiro “Pipi” Nakai was also on there. And so did No. 10 Bruno Iglesias.
Real Madrid compare favorably with other European clubs on this list
The annual list is created by the experts at The Guardian, with Spanish football expert Sid Lowe writing up the analysis for two of the Real Madrid prospects and J Sports commentator Ben Mabley writing up an entry on Nakai.
It’s highly impressive for Real Madrid to have three players on this list, since only prospects born in 2003 could make the cut. To compare Barcelona only had one prospect, Bayern had three, Ajax had one, and PSG had two.
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That really goes to show you how good of a job Real Madrid are doing at identifying young talent and developing them at La Fabrica. There will surely be many more prospects to make the rankings in future years, and it will be a treat for Madridistas to see how these three talented players develop.