One major critique of Real Madrid is that they don't have a great history of developing that many players from their academy and promoting them to the first team. When you look at the products that come out of other teams' academies and compare them to Real Madrid's, it's night and day.
Many of the players from Real Madrid's academy never find their footing in the first team and are shipped off to other clubs, most times without being given a fair chance to show their potential at the highest level.
Real Madrid have loaned or sold a number of youth players over the last few seasons, who after departing the club have shined at their new club. One player recently sold was Miguel Gutierrez. The fullback never found his footing in the first team, and is now on the move to Italy's top team.
Miguel Gutierrez was definitely good enough to play for Real Madrid
As announced officially by Napoli, they have signed fullback Miguel Gutierrez from Girona for a fee of around €18 million. Real Madrid will earn about €9 million from the transfer as they still hold 50% of the player's rights.
The Spaniard was brought up through the Real Madrid youth academy, and only made 10 appearances for the first team before being sold to Girona in 2022. A number of teams from England, Italy, and Spain were interested in the 24-year-old and he decided to join Antonio Conte's defending Serie A champion side Napoli.
There was speculation that as Los Blancos looked for their new left-back, they could've looked to re-sign the player from Girona, however, the club ultimately decided on signing Alvaro Carreras from Benfica.
Gutierrez follows other Real Madrid youngsters like Nico Paz and Jacobo Ramon who have joined Serie A to show their skills and show Los Blancos what they're missing.
The Spaniard could always return to Real Madrid in the future but as mentioned earlier with the arrival of Carreras, that possibility seems unlikely at the moment.