After securing the services of Antonio Rudiger and Aurelien Tchouameni, Real Madrid looks to be on the retiring front for the summer transfer window. Florentino Perez also emphasized in a recent interview that no new signings will be made as of now, and that any new moves will largely depend on sales.
Real Madrid is a team who are always active in the scouting department and there is no doubt they will be looking to further strengthen the team with new and young faces — promoting competition for starting places among the squad and at the same time nurturing new talent for the safety of the future.
In this article, I have identified three U-19 prospects who possess a huge amount of potential for Real Madrid to keep an eye on and make a future move if the opportunity presents itself.
Ryan Cherki
Born on 17th August 2003, Ryan Cherki is one of the most exciting talents in world football at the moment. Cherki is considered the best player to work his way up from the Lyon academy since Karim Benzema. Even after missing a considerable number of games owing to an injury he suffered at the end of the 2020/21 season, the Frenchman still managed to be under the spotlight and excel at the same time.
Having the attribute of versatility, Ryan Cherki possesses the ability to play in any position enabling him to operate in either channel of the midfield as an attacking option. He is good at moving the ball forward effectively while his spatial awareness allows him to create space for others during his exceptional dribbling and in off-ball movements.
“The two clubs that were interested when we won his faith were Real Madrid and Manchester United. We want him to succeed with Lyon” — stated Lyon’s club president confirming the interest from Real Madrid in a recent interview.
Predominantly left-footed, Cherki’s preferred position is to operate from the right flank helping him to cut balls into dangerous positions with his left foot having a resemblance to Marco Asensio.
Even though he suffered an injury near the end of it, the 2020/21 season had been a fruitful season for the attacking midfielder in which he had four goal contributions (one goal and three assists) in 27 league appearances. Having played limited minutes during the 2021/22 season, he still managed to contribute the same amount (two goals, two assists) and always stood out on the pitch whenever he was playing.
Real Madrid should keep an eye on him, while stiff competition from other top European clubs is expected as he enters the final year of his contract with Lyon.
Florian Wirtz
When Kai Havertz left Bayern Leverkusen in the summer of 2020, he left a huge void in the heart of Leverkusen after leading them to a fourth-place finish in the 2018/19 season. With the €80 million they received from the Havertz transfer to Chelsea, they could’ve easily secured a high-profile signing in order to replace their star man but interestingly Bayer Leverkusen didn’t even make a move for any attacking midfielder that summer.
Bayer showed their immense belief in promising young talent Florian Wirtz who was already receiving a lot of attention in Die Werkself’s youth team, and they got rewarded handsomely.
The 19-year-old German attacking midfielder has been on a tear for the past three seasons with Bayer Leverkusen and has transformed himself into becoming an integral part of their team. Wirtz has made a total of 76 appearances with Leverkusen during which he scored 22 goals and registered 19 assists across all competitions.
The teenage sensation has a quite distinct style of play — Wirtz tends to operate at the right channel of the attacking midfield role while sometimes dropping down to make a single pivot and offering the centre-backs passing options whenever a tight situation arises.
Wirtz is always quick to identify the space around him and finds himself in a place where he could eventually provide a potential ‘killer pass’ if the ball ends up at his feet. His developed chemistry with the forwards helps him to calculate the runs beforehand and pass the ball quickly resulting in fast-paced gameplay.
Wirtz makes up for his lack of physicality with his positional awareness and his precisive passing techniques but he still has a long way to go in mastering them as there are instances where he sits back a lot when he could easily make a run to support the attack or when he should pass the ball quickly but ends up getting overpowered by an opponent defender.
Wirtz’s recent contract renewal with Die Werkself until 2027 will provide Real Madrid with ample time to analyse his upcoming performances before making a move for him in the future. Personally, I see him operating well with the Real Madrid system as his playing style of being patient and not indulging in rash decisions makes him a player who suits the profile of Real Madrid.
Youssoufa Moukoko
The third player on the list is Borussia Dortmund starlet striker Youssoufa Moukoko. Moukoko started out his career at St. Pauli’s youth team from where he joined the youth ranks of Dortmund before being promoted to first-team during the start of 2020-21.
Moukoko made an immediate impact since he started playing for St. Pauli’s U-13 team back in 2014. The following year he was promoted to the U-15s during which he scored 23 times in 13 games making him one of the most talented emerging prospects in German football.
Moukoko joined the ranks of Dortmund aged 12 and netted 40 times in his first season with the Ruhr-based team. He continued his stellar goalscoring form within the Dortmund youth scoring 46 goals in 25 games in the U-17 Bundesliga West league.
He impressed the Dortmund coaches so much during his tremendous climb through their ranks that U-19 coach Michael Skibbe went on to say:
"“He’s so young and already so good. He’s got very good technique, speed, and finishes well. These are three strong qualities that come together. The boy will one day become a professional, that’s as sure as a prayer in the church. Only injuries can stop him.”"
Moukoko featured 22 times last season during which he was able to score only two goals owing to limited minutes as Erling Haaland was the regular starter. Dortmund are in the process of experimenting with the 17-year-old in an attacking midfield role while also letting him develop in his natural position as a striker.
The German International’s contract expires next season but he is expected to renew with Dortmund as that’s the best place for him to develop before stepping up for bigger ambitions.
Real Madrid should keep an eye on him as they will feel the need to strengthen the forward position in about three to four years. And who knows, if he has developed enough, Real Madrid might go for him.
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However, being a no-frills striker, Moukoko stays forward up the pitch most of the time and does not drop deep enough times to help sync with the midfield. There are still areas which the teenager needs to work on but he surely can be the next big thing to come out of German football and we have been pretty successful with the Germans, haven’t we?