The rumors flew in the end of the season fast and furious. It went from Kylian M'Bappe, to N'Golo Kante, to Antoine Griezmann, to many others. Which high priced transfer would defending Spanish and European Champions Real Madrid scoop up. One? Two? All Three? In a way, it made perfect sense. Florentino Perez is never one to let transfer windows pass quietly, and he had to make up for a muted 2016-17 Transfer Season when a banned Real Madrid could only bring back Alvaro Morata and Marco Asensio (a relative unknown at that point) back from loan. No, now Florentino Perez was unshackled and ready to wheel and deal cash.
Instead, whether by some combination of past high-priced failures and Zinedine Zidane's impact on the team's mindset, Florentino Perez and Real Madrid seem content to not go luxury shopping. Instead, they went bargain hunting, fortifying the deepest team in Europe with an infusion of young talent that make them an even deeper, better team, ready to rule Europe again. In the span of three years, Real Madrid turned over its manager and now its mindset, and the future could not be brighter.
Theo Hernandez and Dani Ceballos. That is essentially the extent of Madrid's transfer dealings (admittedly, for now). The rest were the ending of loans, with Jesus Vallejo, Marcus Llorente and Borja Mayoral. You might now know these players. Few should. But they, along with current Madridista rising supernova Marco Asensio (and Atleti's Saul Niguez) formed the core of Spain's U-21 team that flexed serioous might in the UEFA U-21's. Real Madrid has made a concerted effort to go younger, go faster, go deeper, and it may pay off grandly.
The players that Real Madrid let walk are as much of the story as those who came in. Pepe left, a bit acrimoniously which is sad given his success with the club, a clear sign Real wanted to get younger, get faster, and not be too attached by the recent success. James leaving for Bayern, despite being a way below-market deal, was another sign that Real wanted to go further in pushing cohesion, in meritocracy, in team.
Zidane's rotation policy has now reached cult status, and it should. He rotated his players more than any manager in a club in Europe's top leagues. 20 players played at least 1,000 minutes. Guys on the bench like Nacho, Mateo Kovacic, Lucas Vasquez, may not have found any time on a previous version of Real, but they flourished in this one. For some of the more high-priced bench talent, this may have sown some discord - particularly in Alvaro Morata who was a consistent starter at Juventus the two years prior - but had Zidane rotated like a normal coach, Morata would have played even less.
A key result of this rotation policy seems that young players have no issue going to Madrid knowing they might not be starters. The squad is so deep right now you have to be a true talent to be a starter. Out of the three starlets mentioned at the beginning, none would be guaranteed starters at Real. Kante might displace Casemiro, and Griezmann is so good he may force himself in, but there's no guarantee. For younger players, it is even more of a risk, but given the allure of Madrid, the rotation equanimity that Zidane employs, it is a risk so worth taking.
The consistent throughline across all the signing/loan returnees is their age. Theo Hernandez is 18, a future star at left back, the potential eventual replacement for Marcelo. Dani Ceballos is 20, the potential replacement for Kroos and/or Modric. Marcos Llorente is 22, the third man at defensive midfield along with Casemiro and Kovacic. Mayoral is 23, and he may be lost at forward, but then the least is expected of him as well. Jesus Vallejo is 20, a potential utility defender who may just step into Sergio Ramos's shoes one day. All of these players are potentially key cogs of Real Madrid's medium-to-long term future, but to get them all to mortgage some of their short-term playing time shows the renewed, unmatched allure of Zidane's Madrid.
To be fair, there is still a logjam everywhere, and if injury strikes having 18-22 year olds may not work out too well, but Perez seems to be committed to longer-term thinking than he usually does. The chances of them three-peating as European Champions is of course small. They are probably favorites to retain La Liga, but even that is never a sure bet. A trophyless season may be a disappointment, but you get the sense that Perez, and Zidane (who Perez called his coach for life) are seeing 3-4 years down the road.
Madrid has almost never had this level of young talent on hand in their 23. Certainly not in the last 10+ years since Ronaldo came on board. Madrid's recent run has already cemented their place as one of the great teams ever. Three Champions League crowns in Four years is impossible to argue against. But in a way, this is more of a beginning, a rebirth, the start of something great rather than the end. Madrid is well on their way to a modern dynasty. They can thank their brilliant president who zigged again, straight into a wealth of young talent. They can thank their equally brilliant manager who seems to have no obvious flaw for that job. But the combination of the two is truly deadly.
