One of the biggest reasons behind Real Madrid’s success in recent years has been their incredible scouting when it comes to South American players. And a large portion of the credit goes to chief scout Juni Calafat. The match against Mallorca was the perfect example of that as Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Federico Valverde scored.
Again, these are not players that Real Madrid signed as the finished articles. Instead, they were brought in when they were youngsters, shown patience with and given time to develop. And now, they are reaping the benefits of that.
This is the kind of strategy that one would have associated with Barcelona once upon a time but the tables have flipped in recent years, as Real Madrid seem to be beating the Blaugrana at their own game.
Another Brazilian player who has been a huge transfer success story for Real Madrid is Eder Militao. The big difference is that the centre-back was already established at FC Porto before moving to Los Blancos. He did not seem to be the club’s first choice though.
Real Madrid wanted €75 million star instead of Militao
As reported by Marca, authorized voices at Real Madrid preferred Matthijs de Ligt. But once again, Calafat deserves credit for his eye for talent.
De Ligt would complete a €75 million move to Juventus in the summer of 2019, the same window that Real Madrid signed Militao.
The Dutchman’s time at Juventus was not the grand success everyone expected it to be though, as they slipped from the Italian throne and he has already left to join Bayern Munich this summer.
On the other hand, Militao developed further at Real Madrid and went on to win the Champions League with them.
This is another example of the fruits that Los Blancos have borne by giving players the time to develop at Santiago Bernabeu and then pushing them towards the first-team picture. The club do not get the credit that they deserve for this strategy, because there is no other team in Europe who are using it as successfully as them at this point of time.