sport news Real Madrid have not made a mistake in the transfer market since Eden Hazard, ... trends now

In the summer of 2019 Real Madrid paid €100m (£85m) for Eden Hazard, a disastrous piece of business that would end up costing them closer to €150m (£128m). They have not had a misstep in the transfer market since then.

They beat Manchester City with a mix of homegrowns, free-transfers, clever acquisitions and only one ‘Galatico style’ signing, that of Jude Bellingham.

They have sat back and watched other clubs waste money, while the wave of teenagers they signed on the advice of super scout Juni Calafat have matured in the company of players like Antonio Rudiger who arrived on a free in 2022 and scored the winning penalty last night. It’s hard to think of shrewder club in Europe right now.

Of the eleven starters and four subs that played at the Etihad most of them could be put into one of three groups: The academy products, those signed as kids, and the freebies.

In the first group Dani Carvajal, Nacho and Luca Vazquez all came through the club’s academy. The second group is much bigger.

Man-of-the-match Andriy Lunin, Fede Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius, Eder Militao and Brahim Diaz were all signed when they were teenagers with the exception of Militao who was 21. 

They were not cheap for their age – Vinicius cost €45m when he was just 16, but he would be worth three-times that now and there would be an impressive mark up on almost all of the others, not that any of them are for sale as Madrid build a team to dominate for the next decade.

Real Madrid’s penalty shoot-out star Andriy Lunin cost €8.5m (£7.2m) when Madrid signed him in 2018 beating Liverpool among others to his signature. Fede Valverde cost €5m (£4.2m) from Peñarol. Eduardo Camavinga cost €30m (£25.6m) when he was just 18 and had played only two seasons at Rennes. Rodrygo cost €45m (£38.5m) when he was only 17, Militao cost €50m (£42.7m) aged 21. 

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