The Ones That Got Away: Real Madrid Cantera

The transfer policy of Real Madrid is supposed to be a balance of Super Star imports, the best Spanish players that money can buy and the cantera. Well of late, the first two criteria have been very true, but the cantera or youth academy/development has been pretty poor. Well, poor for Real Madrid, that is. Most youth players have had very little chance of breaking the starting eleven as the team demanded instant results. The club required proven players and the jump for Segunda B to Primera was deemed to steep.

The most recent opportunity emerged when Castilla was promoted from Segunda B (the third division) and played in Segunda A (the second division in Spain). This opportunity to rejuvenate and repurpose the cantera, really came to nothing. Several players left Castilla after promotion because they saw the writing on the wall and wanted first team football. Only Miguel Torres (now at Getafe) broke through to the Real Madrid first team. Add to that, Real Madrid really didn't have the players in Real Madrid C to replenish Castilla, so they were relegated two years later, back to Segunda B. All in all, a very short term, short sighted approach to youth development and promotion.

That said, many Castilla and Real Madrid C players have moved on to play in other teams in La Liga and have flourished. One might say that the purpose of Real Madrid's cantera is to prepare players to play in the rest of the Spanish league. But is this really something Real Madrid should be proud of? Or is it merely a waste of resources and lack of vision?

Here is a list of some of the active ex Real Madrid canteranos, now plying their trade elsewhere:

Samuel Eto'o (Inter), Juan Mata (Valencia), Borja Valero (Villarreal), Luis Garcia (Espanyol), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Roberto Soldado (Valencia) , Dani Parejo (Getafe), Jose Callejón (Espanyol), Juanfran (Atlético Madrid), Javi Garcia (Benfica) to name a few.

What do these players have in common? Attacking players who were given very little chance to reach their potential and play for the club of their youth and dreams. Unfortunately, they were not deemed important enough by the President, directors and coaches, who were more worried about their positions and instant success.

With the departure of Guti and Raúl (who originally came from Atlético), Iker Casillas is the only home grown canterano playing in the first team. Iker was scouted, formed, developed, promoted to, and succeeded in the first team. I guess you should also include Alvaro Arbeloa and Esteban Granero. But they were initially sold by the club, and later bought back, once they proved their worth at Liverpool and Getafe, respectively.

Is this really a successful youth policy? Is this the price of success?

World Best Goal Getter

According to the IFFHS, the International Football Federation of History and Statistics, based in Germany, the World's Top Goal Scorer for 2010 is:

1. Bader Ahmed Al-Mutawa (Al-Qadisia SC Kuwait-City / Kuwait)
2. Samuel Eto'o Fils (FC Internazionale Milano / Cameroun)
3. David Villa (Valencia CF / FC Barcelona / España)
4. Klaas Jan Huntelaar (FC Schalke 04 / Nederland)
5. Yousef Naser Al-Sulaiman (Kazma Kuwait-City / Kuwait)
6. Edison Cavani (SSC Napoli / Uruguay)
6. Diego Forlán (Club Atletico de Madrid / Uruguay)
8. Lionel Andrés Messi (FC Barcelona / Argentina)
9. Javier Hernández (Manchester United FC / México)
10. Ali Mohamed Al-Nono (Al-Ahli Sana'a / Yemen)
11. Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern München / Deutschland)
12. Ismaeel Hassan Abdullatif (Bahrain Al-Riffa Club / Bahrain)
13. Javier Antonio Orozco (CD Cruz Azul Ciudad de México / México)
14. Kurlson Benjamin (Bath Estate / Dominica)
14. Katlego Abel Mphela (Mamelodi Sundowns Pretoria / South Africa)
16. Wesley Sneijder (FC Internazionale Milano / Nederland)
16. Luis Alberto Suárez (AFC Ajax Amsterdam / Uruguay)
18. Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspurs FC / England)
18. Luis Carlos Tejada (C Juan Aurich de Chiclayo / Panamá)
20. Zlatan Ibrahimović (FC Barcelona / Milan AC / Sweden)

Now the ranking is based on statistics, goals, game winning goals, first goals, etc. There is no weighting based on league in this case or level of competition. As you can see Kuwait, Yemen, and Bahrain rank extremely high. But what of La Liga, well three of the most deadly and prolific strikers David Villa, Diego Forlan and Lionel Messi are represented for both club and country. All three had stellar years and are world class finishers. Ex La Liga strikers Wesley Sneijder. Samuel Eto'o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are also represented. Samu and El Guaje have continuously been neck and neck in the goals competition throughout their careers.

It is not easy to score goals in La Liga, but it is good to see the league well represented.

Real Club de Mallorca Best XI of the Decade

Continuing our series of looking at the best players of the decade, we turn to our friend Jeremy Tanner from the Mallorca Offside blog for his Best XI.

I am going with a 4-3-1-2 formation based on the strengths of the club.

Let's start with the two strikers. Mallorca has had lots of good strikers, many of which performed better for other clubs, but my top two choices were not that difficult to make.

SAMUEL ETO'O(2000-04)

If you have watched Eto'o for any length of time, you know his greatness. He was Real Madrid owned yet at age 19 in 2000, came to Mallorca where he spent four seasons showing the flashes of talent that led him to even more goal scoring success at Barca and now Inter. With over 150 appearances for Mallorca and 50 plus goals, he is probably our best player of the decade and has stated often he wants to finish his career in Palma.

DANI GUIZA(1999-03, 2007-08)

Any long time Mallorca fan knows the wasted promise that was Guiza in the early part of the decade. He started as part of the B team as a youngster and did nothing by the time he left in 2003. He returned as a project in 2007 and spent the next year winning the Pichichi as La Liga's top goal scorer with 27 goals, none of which were PKs. He simply dominated and put his partying ways aside to develop his talent which lead to a place in Spain's winning team for EURO 2008. While he then took the money and went to Turkey where he has regressed. His foundation in Mallorca in the early part of the decade with a return for a magical season earns him the partnership with Eto'o. These two at their best would match up with any strike partnership of any team this decade.


Midfield

For a small club, Mallorca has had some great midfielders as well over the past decade so picking four is not as obvious as it may seem. I am picking the obvious talented and long serving choices, but including a couple of supremely talented players who made brief contributions to the team or may see their full potential realized elsewhere.

In this formation, I am going to add a "Triquartista" attacking midfielder and that choice is:

BORJA VALERO(2007-08, 2009-10)

In terms of a decade long analysis, this may be a slight reach, but I think he belongs in this team. He is basically a Real Madrid man, but he came to Mallorca in 2007-08 and did not do a lot, was then sold to West Brom for 08-09, but came back to Mallorca for 2009-10 where he was our best player and lead the team to a 5th place finish. Take him off that team and we are mid table. His talent is obvious and at age 25, he is now in Villarreal and is a big part of the future for the Spanish national team. Players who stand out in Mallorca but will make it big elsewhere are the epitome of Mallorca's team and players like Valero and my next midfield choice should have a few places on this team.

The next choice is:
GONZALO "CHORI" CASTRO(2007-Current).

I am going to go with him for the final spot in the midfield over Fernando Varela, who was a little more steady over a longer time in the decade but simply not as good. Castro came to Palma from his home country of Uruguay in 2007. He started slow but took over for Valera in 2009 and spent 2009-10 becoming one of Mallorca's top players. Still only 26, he will move on and likely get more recognition elsewhere. Because most of the other midfielders who did not make this team may have played longer and held starting positions for longer, they simply were not spectacular enough to stand out and make an all decade team.

The last two places in the midfield are probably the most obvious as these two guys combined talent and longevity to making Mallorca a better squad.

ARIEL IBAGAZA(1998-03, 2006-08) is an obvious choice for the midfield. He came to Mallorca from Argentina in 1998 and was part of the CL qualifying team and the Copa winning team. He left in 2003 and returned in 2006 playing two more years before heading on to Villarreal. His leadership and ability to read the game might put him on any all time Mallorca team not to mention the team of the decade. With over 200 appearances in the decade and the ability to make those around him better, earns him a place on this team.

The last spot in our midfield goes to JUAN ARANGO(2004-09), the best player ever to come out of Venezuela. After some early years in the Mexican league, he came to Palma in 2004 and spent 5 years with us where he was likely the best player in the team while they struggled to survive. After combining with Guiza in 2008-09 to help make Mallorca one of the most exciting teams around, he was sold to Monchengladbach in Germany for a paltry 3 million. He was a faster, higher scoring Carlos Valderrama type player who controlled the game for Mallorca in the midfield, but scored many big goals when needed as an attacking midfielder. He and Borja Valero are so good that they would fight for that attacking midfielder role, but I would keep Arango behind Valero on the field simply because of his maturity and the ability to read the game. Another player who would probably make a Mallorca all time team in addition to the team of the decade.

The back four is where it gets a bit tough as most of Mallorca's stand out defenders played early in the decade and unless you are a real Mallorca fan, you may not know many of these guys.

The first choice is probably pretty obvious in MIGUEL ANGEL NADAL.

Nadal is Mallorca through and through as he is from the island and started his career in 1986. He spent the 90s playing for Barca but returned to Palma in 1999 and played out his career until 2005. Even in his later years, he was still strong in the back and his heading and leadership was second to none. Part of the CL and Copa del Rey winning teams in the first half of the decade, he is another player that probably makes an all time team in addition to an all decade team. He is now part of the coaching staff with Laudrup and will likely take over for him when Laudrup is either fired or can't be paid or if the team is successful and Laudrup's ego takes him to a bigger club. One word for Nadal is simply Legend.


IVAN RAMIS(2001-current; on loan to Valladolid 05-06)

Ramis makes this team because not only has he been a solid player the whole decade starting with the B team at age 16 and the top level since 2004 at age 20, but because he has improved to the point where now, at age 26, he is Mallorca's top defender and is coveted by top clubs. He missed out on a move to Celtic last year but is still likely to be sold when the right offer comes in as he is now at peak value. Like Nadal, he is strong at the back and his height makes him great at clearances, but his stability, improvement, and overall contributions the entire decade all by age 26, earn him a place on this all decade team.


FERNANDO NAVARRO(2005-08).

After developing in the Barcelona system, Navarro came to Mallorca in 2005 and spent 3 seasons drastically improving while helping Mallorca transition from relegation struggler to European challenger. His toughness, consistency, and strength, in over 100 appearances for the club, caused him to stand out enough to earn a place on the national squad for Spain for EURO 2008 and a move to Sevilla that summer. At age 28 he is an important player for Sevilla and like many players, we got to see a portion of his prime and development in Palma.


FERNANDO NINO(1998-2005).

Nino is best known for the stability he helped create in the back with Nadal as they were the strength of the defense for the first half of the decade while Mallorca saw so many other players try to earn regular places. He was a big part of the CL team and the Copa winning side. Like Nadal his heading, strength, leadership, and durability, gave the coaches a player they could count on for years until an injury cut short his career in 2005. Like most defenders, he earned his reputation quietly and over a long period of time.


Keeper

LEO FRANCO(1999-04)

Despite the great play of current keeper Aouate, the decade long potential that was Miguel Moya, the player of the decade in goal has to be Franco. With almost 150 appearnces in the first half of the decade, he gave a lot to the team before moving on to Atletico Madrid. He was the keeper on the 3rd place team from 2000-01 and won the Copa del Rey in 2003. While certainly up and down in his performances, his longevity and team results says something. He was a solid keeper and his results earn him this spot even though Aouate and Moya probably are better overall keepers from a talent standpoint.


Bench

For all the great choices, there are plenty of players that would make a nice bench even if most of them didn't play for Mallorca for very long or did not show their real talent until after they left.

Names like Riera, Luque, Tristan, Jonas Gutierrez, David Navarro, and Aritz Aduriz are players who would be great subs on this team.

For a small club, you would be hard to find a team with a better overall starting XI then Mallorca for the decade.