El Clasico: Eternal rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona united by shift towards smarter transfer strategy
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Updated 03/07/2022 at 14:23 GMT+1
Ahead of the Clasico Pete Sharland looks at the contrasting transfer strategies of the two Spanish giants and why there is now a sudden unification in the way the two teams go about their business. There will always remain fundamental, institutional differences but, dare we say it, are both teams now being (mostly) sensible?
BARCELONA, SPAIN - OCTOBER 24: (L-R) president Joan Laporta of FC Barcelona, President Florentino Perez of Real Madrid during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona v Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on October 24, 2021 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by D
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El Clasico has always been marked by some of the greatest players to ever play the game, part of the lustre and appeal of the fixture comes from seeing the best go against the best.
However, what is not always talked about as much, is some of the truly astonishing transfer business conducted by the two giants over the years. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have plenty of skeletons in the transfer closet, more than a few millions down the drain thanks to ill-advised pursuits.
No club is perfect, but there are obviously some who are better, and crucially more sensible, than others. That is true across the divisions, it’s just that there is understandably more of a microscope on the bigger clubs.
But it is starting to feel as if the two giants of Spanish and global football are starting to move towards a more coherent strategy.
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Real Madrid's president Florentino Perez
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Let’s start with the league leaders and title favourites. Real’s last real transfer error was their decision to invest in a bunch of young Spanish players. The premise was sound, stock the squad with domestic players to help with squad registration rules and use the long-term savings on their signings to add those few global superstars.
However it didn’t really work. Since the summer of 2015 to 2019 Real signed Kiko Casilla, Jesus Vallejo, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Omar Mascarell, Brahim Diaz, and Alvaro Odriozola.
This is as well as promoting or signing young players like Achraf Hakimi, Dani Ceballos, Theo Hernandez, Mariano Diaz, Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente, Martin Odegaard, Sergio Reguilon, Oscar Rodriguez and Federico Valverde.
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Alvaro Odriozola of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring their side's second goal during the La Liga Santander match between Cadiz CF and Real Madrid at Estadio Ramon de Carranza on April 21, 2021 in Cadiz, Spain
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The only ones of that group who have made a permanent place for themselves in the first-team squad are Asensio, Vazquez and Valverde. It’s not a great hit-rate.
The inherent problem is that at a club like Real, a lot of players of that stature will struggle for playing time when you consider some of the big names in the starting line-up. The club didn’t seem to have a real plan or pathway for a lot of these players, and whilst it was good in terms of bringing in transfer fees, it didn’t benefit the first-team squad.
Now though, there appears to have been a shift. It’s not quite full Galaticos, but it’s also not full domestic. It’s a difficult one to describe. Maybe the best phrase is “payments over payment.” What I mean by that is Real are looking at players who they can buy young and spread the cost across multiple years, maybe even as much as a decade. Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy and Eduardo Camavinga fit this mould.
Should they sign any of the following this summer then it is the same principle: Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Aurelien Tchouameni, Reece James, Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, Moussa Diaby, etc are all names linked to Real. All represent fantastic long-term value due to the immense potential they both possess right now, and in the future. That former point is key, a lot of these young players have the ability to come in and perform right away - that’s a key shift.
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Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the French L1 football match between Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) and Girondins de Bordeaux at The Parc des Princes Stadium, in Paris on March 13, 2022
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The final big change is Real’s manipulation of the market. The foresight and planning Real have shown in the past few summer is astounding. In 2019 they splurged and got it very wrong. Eden Hazard (the biggest recent blot on the copybook), Luka Jovic and even Reinier haven’t worked out.
So Real withdrew, they bided their time. They didn’t add anyone in 2020 and then last year they only brought in Camavinga and David Alaba. They knew they had a great chance at signing Alaba so waited and picked him up on a free. They might well do something similar this summer with Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger. Like with Mbappe, the understanding of when players' contracts are going to expire, and the realisation that more players are becoming willing to run down their contracts is impressive. It’s something Juventus used to their advantage a few years ago and now Real are adopting it as well. They knew that by saving up their ammunition for a couple of years whilst their rivals made frantic moves, they could put themselves in a position to have a potentially historic summer. That’s what could happen this year. Credit where credit is due, Florentino Perez and his team have been very smart.
So, onto Barcelona. They are in a slightly different position to their rivals in the sense that they are a good few years behind in their rebuild. There are a good few years of Josep Bartomeu incompetence for Joan Laporta and his team to undo. Miralem Pjanic, Matheus Fernandes, Martin Braithwaite, Malcom, Clement Lenglet, Nelson Semedo, Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho, Yerry Mina. We could go on. There were a lot of mis-steps along the way. Both in terms of the players brought in and the financial decisions that were taken.
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Philippe Coutinho playing for Barcelona in the Champions League against Bayern Munich.
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But the early returns and reports really feel as if the club is moving back in the right direction. Ferran Torres is a big signing but he could be a part of the front-line for the next decade. Signing Haaland would also be a bit of a risk from a financial standpoint but if they can pull it off he would more than pay it back over the long term.
However those appear to be one-offs. There is no indication that Barcelona would pursue more than one massive signing per season. The other players linked to Barcelona are a trio of free agents in AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie, and Chelsea duo Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen. In Kessie and Christensen, Barca get long-term solutions in the centre of midfield and defence whilst Azpilicueta is a vital leadership piece.
The other player seemingly strongly linked with the club is Valencia left-back Jose Gaya. At 26, Gaya would be the replacement for Jordi Alba and a real like-for-like given Valencia was the club Barca signed Alba from. The fee is reported to be £40-45 million but if he becomes the left-back for between six to eight years it’s a worthwhile investment.
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Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)
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This comes after bringing in players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Dani Alves and Adama Traore in the January transfer market. These are all risky signings, there was no guarantee they’d be as successful as they have turned out to be. But the key is that they were cheap. If it didn’t work out? It didn’t matter.
With La Masia clicking back into gear and producing the likes of Ansu Fati, Gavi, Nico Gonzalez, Ilias Akhomach, Abde Ezzalzouli and Alejando Baldo over the past few years you can start to see the blend that Barcelona are going for.
Blend your young academy stars with other young players bought at a young age who can grow together. Then sprinkle in some bigger name stars, either bought on the cheap or for free, and the odd marquee signing. Sound familiar?
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MADRID, SPAIN - SEPTEMBER 10: Florentino Perez attends "El Corazon de Sergio Ramos" premiere at the Reina Sofia museum on September 10, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/WireImage)
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Now it’s worth mentioning that part of the decisions the teams have made is down to the salary cap rules implemented by La Liga. The Galatico era will almost certainly never happen again. But as Real have shown, the rules can be manipulated to a team’s benefit.
Ultimately both clubs will probably still make mistakes, no-one is ever perfect. But it is really interesting to watch a real shift in the policy dictating the way these clubs will operate. Both teams (Real are obviously further ahead) are making plays to get back to the top of the tree when it comes to European football. Neither has featured in the past three Champions League finals. Four of the six participants were from the Premier League. Before that Real and Barca featured in five straight finals, winning every one. Barcelona added two more in the five years before that.
This is a not a new way to build teams but it’s something these two haven’t tried for a while, if at all, but you can see the results of their work already. Over the past few months they have been two of the most exciting teams to watch across the continent.
We may never get back to the stage where the Clasico was the cut-throat spectacle of the late 2000s/early 2010s. But we are on track to get back to it becoming the one fixture that makes the world stand still. The pieces are already there, and more are soon to be added.
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