These observations — where I look at Real Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be found here.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on Real Madrid’s summer transfer window so far. There has been a lot of criticism from media and fans, mostly because Real Madrid spent a club record for a 19 year old, didn’t buy an additional center-back apart from Ibrahima Konaté(yet), and then missed out on Rodri
— but the club has done good work to strengthen the squad overall if you zoom out.
The window is not done, yet, but Jose Mourinho (who has an impeccable record of transfers at this club already) came in and bought two wing-backs, a target man, a couple experienced veterans, and a right winger in the ilk of which Real Madrid haven’t seen in years.
All in the meanwhile, they’ve sold €200m+ worth of players from the academy alone, which, objectively, is absolutely incredible.
(Note: if another player is signed before the window closes, they’ll get a separate article. I also didn’t touch on all the departures, namely: Dani Ceballos, Dani Carvajal, David Alaba, and Nico Paz — all of which have been discussed quite extensively already).
MARC CUCURELLA
During Spain’s Euro 2024 run, Marc Cucurella — one of the revelations of the tournament — spoke about his symbiosis with Nico Williams as the two formed the best two-way left-wing partnership of the Euros. “His job’s to attack and mine is to defend,” Cucurella told The Guardian. “We fit well together. If he feels I’m covering him, then Nico can do great things for our team. When [players like him] are confident they’re decisive. My role is to get the ball and let him play. I’m here for whatever he needs.”
Virtually two years later, Cucurella spoke about his new Real Madrid teammate Vinicius Jr in a similar light, and, although the two haven’t played many minutes together yet, the Spaniard’s words offered Real Madrid fans a glimpse of the kind of sacrificial player he is.
“I think I’ll hit it off with him,” he told Marca. “I don’t care if he doesn’t track back, I’ll do all the dirty work he doesn’t want to do. As long as he’s decisive and fresh to score goals, I’ll happily eat up the grunt work. Vinicius has proven he’s a decisive and influential player in Real Madrid’s Champions League campaigns,” said the Spanish defender.“
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Every team needs players like Cucurella, especially this Real Madrid. There are already enough superstars here. You need more fighters — people to rely on in the heat of battle, those who are comfortable not having the spotlight but comfortable being the unsung hero — doing all the dirty work behind the scenes in order to elevate the greater cause.
But labelling Cucurella as a mere fighter is selling him short. He is a top-three left back in the world right now and coming off an incredible World Cup where he was the tournament’s best left back. He is an incredible short range passer and is elite at safeguarding possession. He can tuck into an inverted left-back role at any moment while giving you defensive security and is in the 91st percentile among left-backs when it comes to tackles + interceptions. He rarely leaves the flank exposed, even if he has to handle the flank by himself. Essentially, he is a Jose Mourinho dream — a tactical balancer.
Rodrigo Tarin, Cucurella’s former teammate in the Barcelona academy, told The Guardian’s Sid Lowe in 2022 that one of Cucurella’s most redeeming traits is how open he is to coaching feedback.
“That’s his greatest quality,” Tarin said. “He never takes a criticism personally, never feels attacked. He listens, corrects mistakes, understands.”
In that same feature, Eibar sporting director Fran Gargarza spoke about his character and tactical flexibility:
“He’s a player with no ego,” Gargarza said. “He came with the academic concepts from Barcelona but always evolved: at Getafe, for example, he learned that other football, how to manage a game; at Brighton he played at centre-back in a three although his main virtue isn’t in the air; at Chelsea, he’s taking dead balls, which he hadn’t. So will he succeed? Yes, yes, I’m absolutely sure of it.”
Cucurella will likely go down as one of the best signings the club has made in recent years. The Managing Madrid Podcast loves going back year-to-year discussing the hits and misses, and I think we’ll look back on this one as a hit. You can never guarantee anything in football, but Cucurella is one of those players with such a high baseline that it’s hard to go wrong. He’s always been the type of footballer who prioritizes the team over himself. Those are the players that help you win league titles (which is a title Real Madrid doesn’t seem to prioritize enough). In Cucurella’s case, he also has a great big game track record in international tournaments too. Mourinho won’t have any issue playing him against the best right wingers in the world.
Real Madrid were wise to sign him before Spain’s first World Cup game. Had they signed him after the World Cup, there is no doubt Chelsea would’ve jacked up the price as the Spaniard’s value soared after the tournament.
A side note: It will be interesting to see how Alvaro Carreras responds. Will he elevate his own game? He’ll have to impress as the team’s back-up.
DENZEL DUMFRIES
Another tremendous signing that should be attributed to Jose Mourinho. We know Mourinho likes to go two-deep in each position, and Madridistas should be over the moon to have Denzel Dumfries, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Marc Cucurella, and Alvaro Carreras (and Ferland Mendy — the most hypothetical player of all time — somewhere there in existence).
That’s a far cry from 2024 – 2025, where poor Carlo Ancelotti had to rely mostly on Lucas Vazquez and Fran Garcia.
Wing-back depth is vital. All of Real Madrid’s most successful periods in the modern era boasted elite wing-backs, and in several cases multiple bodies. Think of Jose Mourinho himself, and how he used both Fabio Coentrao and Marcelo strategically based on the opponent.
Nothing is set in stone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mourinho looked at Dumfries and Trent the same way: Dumfries is a better overall defender than Trent, though clearly inferior in other aspects like long range passing and escaping tight spaces.
But Dumfries has a solid tool bag. As we saw in the World Cup, he can whip in mean, first-touch, dangerous balls into the box. He is an aerial threat and physically imposing — fantastic at tracking far post runners and making sure he wins that diagonal cross.
Dumfries can also crash the box and meet crosses that come in from the left side. He is in the 95th percentile among wing-backs when it comes to touches in the box. Will Mourinho ask him to hedge back in deeper positions the way he did with Coentrao (a more than capable attacker in his own right)? Dumfries ranks lower in tackles and interceptions, but that’s in part because he’s usually higher up the field. As always, I have more questions than answers, but fascinated to see the answers.
CARLOS ESPI
Finally, the Joselu of the new era has arrived. Carlos Espi is extremely specialized — he lives in the box and hunts crosses and cut-backs. His entire purpose is to manouever between the lines without the ball, and move into the box undetected. Espi is an expert at sneaking into the defender’s blind spot, and he’s hard to track.
Espi is in the 96th percentile when it comes to touches in the box. Don’t expect him to do much outside of it. But Real Madrid don’t need him be in any zone other than the zone that allows him to finish chances. Real Madrid already have enough creators who operate outside the box — they need a specialist; a finisher. Espi is that.
The Espi signing came out of nowhere. Once the rumours started, Real Madrid officially announced him within hours. By the next day, he was already in training, and within two days, he was playing a pre-season game against Fiorentina. This is Jose Mourinho at his best: Getting to work, identifying squad holes early, and getting Real Madrid to execute deals they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Espi, listed at 6’ 4”, is a behemoth and clear aerial threat. At just 21, he has room to grow, and is already making strides as a finisher. Two seasons ago, he scored six goals in 37 games. Last season, he scored 13 goals in 27 games. His current conversion rate puts him in the 80th percentile among finishers. I haven’t seen it discussed much, but Espi is a very reliable presser — and you know Mourinho will value defensive work ethic even if he himself, as a coach, isn’t hell bent on implementing an aggressive pressing scheme.
I always said that the best type of person to fill the Joselu role is an experienced vet who doesn’t care so much about playing time — someone who is ok with being Kylian Mbappe’s back-up and just happy to be on the Real Madrid train while helping the team win trophies in a more minimal, yet specialized role.
This is a bet on a younger player, which is fine too. Gonzalo Garcia needed to develop and play more (more on him later). Espi is not going to come in an demand anything this season, and will be hungry to earn minutes. It will be interesting to see how Mourinho juggles subbing him in. Will it be for Mbappe? Doubt it. One of the wingers?
Questions, as always.
FRAN GARCIA
Real Madrid had four left backs on the books at one point this summer: Marc Cucurella, Fran Garcia, Alvaro Carreras, Ferland Mendy. Someone had to leave. Carreras has only been here one season — there’s no way the club would’ve given up on him so soon. Mendy’s contract is difficult to move because of his age and injuries — though they still have to try and move him this summer if they can. Fran Garcia was always going to the most realistic departure of the four.
Maybe harsh, but football isn’t always about what’s fair. You could argue Fran was the best left back the team had last season.
It was a low bar. Carreras had a good first couple months, and then fell off a cliff in the second half of the season. Mendy actually was solid when he played, but he played what seemed like one half per six months. Fran started to grow into the team with Carreras having both on and off field issues. Even then, Fran’s usage was minimal when he played as most of the game flowed through Vinicius, though, Fran, even though the sample size was small, won 81.8% of his duels and his passing accuracy hovered around the 90% mark.
It will be interesting to see him back at a different La Liga club. With Rayo Vallecano, he was much more of a fulcrum in attack. I suspect Manuel Pellegrini will get Fran in much more attacking zones more often. At Real Madrid, he had to be more conservative, but I’m really excited to see him back at a different team. Pellegrini likes his wingers to cut inside, creating room for overloads from full-backs. Fran is an aggressive two-way wing-back by nature — something we really only saw him be at Rayo.
As is the case with many talented players in Spain, they are not destined for Real Madrid, but they are destined for a really good career elsewhere. Players like Asier Illaramendi, Sergio Canales, Dani Parejo come to mind. There are many more.
Real Madrid sold low when they could’ve gotten more. People have criticized the action of selling Fran for just €4 million. That’s fair — a Premier League club would’ve dished out much more. Some of it comes down to Real Madrid honouring Fran’s wish but also maintaining a good relationship with Real Betis. There is also the non-emotional side of this: Real Madrid retain 50% of his rights, something that would’ve been difficult to do had he gone to England. Real Madrid essentially co-own the Spanish left-back while allowing Betis to take on the onus of ‘developing’ him. It would be very surprising if, in a few years, his value wasn’t boosted significantly and both Real Madrid and Real Betis cash in on a future Premier League sale.
Fran had to leave. At Managing Madrid, we will root for any academy products to succeed at other clubs. Certainly it’s to Real Madrid’s best interest if he goes on and gets better.
GONZALO GARCIA
It was always going to be hard to keep Gonzalo Garcia in this Real Madrid squad. These are his formative years. He is a stud. Playing time is vital for his development.
Quite frankly, it’s going to be hard for any striker in the Kylian Mbappe era to break through. For this reason, I’m also not convinced Endrick will stay — he wants to play down the middle, per source, and not on the right wing. That doesn’t leave much wiggle room.
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With that context in mind, it’s clear that filling an Mbappe back-up role is difficult to do. Good players will have to leave.
If Gonzalo had to leave, it’s hard to think of a better scenario than the one that Real Madrid found. Through some sequence of fortune, Alvaro Arbeloa went to Fulham and brought with him Gonzalo (who is represented by the same agent, Oscar Ribot) for a very good chunk of money.
Gonzalo becomes the fourth most expensive Real Madrid academy sale ever, behind Alvaro Morata, Nico Paz, and Achraf Hakimi. What differentiates Gonzalo from the others is that he’s the only one of the four not to have gone to another team and established himself. Gonzalo was sold virtually straight from the academy. That is incredible business. Even if you wanted Gonzalo to stay (and no one loves him more than this author, apart from maybe his mom), Real Madrid are big winners of this deal. They not only received €40m for him, but they also retained 30% of his rights and a first right of refusal. To put it in simple terms, if another club wanted to sign Gonzalo for €100m in the future, Fulham would notify Real Madrid, who would have the opportunity to match for just €70m. If Real Madrid decline, Fulham would sell to the next club and Real Madrid would receive €30m.
There’s no other universe where you can get a better deal for an academy player who is second or third choice (including Endrick) as Mbappe’s back-up.
I’m excited to track Gonzalo’s development. I think he’ll have to improve his transition attacking, but there isn’t much to dispute when it comes to his football intelligence, off-ball instinct, finishing, and hold up play.
YAN DIOMANDE
At €125.00m, Yan Diomande rolls in as the most expensive transfer in Real Madrid history. There is a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
But let’s quickly and easily reframe this into something much more positive: Diomande is one of the most exciting winger prospects in the world, and at just 19, has already begun his ascent towards the echelon of the elite players in his position.
Diomande is one of the best line-breaking wingers in the world, ranking in the 95th percentile in Europe in successful dribbles and 95th percentile in progressive carries. He’s also an athletic freak who presses and tracks on the wing — bringing two-way balance that’s much needed given Trent Alexander-Arnold will need help defensively and Mourinho goes to war with workhorses.
Some will deem Diomande as unnecessary. What they might miss: In Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1, a right winger like Diomande is very necessary. There was no one else in the current squad who could’ve provided that symmetry otherwise.
BERNARDO SILVA
I spoke about Silva’s role in the team in a column last week, but essentially: If you were low on his signing, expect him to surprise you. Silva is still at a very high level when it comes to controlling possession, helping escape pressure, progressing the ball, and providing a ton of great defensive work.
He will be even more important now after the Rodri snub.
IBRAHIMA KONATÉ
I have Konaté down as an x-factor for Real Madrid this season. The reason is simple: There is virtually no doubt that Real Madrid will be leaning on him a lot this season due to Eder Militao’s health and the variance of the entire Real Madrid center-back depth chart. They will live and die with whatever version of Konaté shows up.
It’s been a very difficult year for the French center-back. He lost his good friend, Diogo Jota, before the season started, and then his father passed away. Konaté stepped away to take some time. Later, he spoke candidly about the depression he went through.
The best version of Konaté is physically imposing, a commander of his own box, press-resistant, strong with the ball at his feet, and quick. The best version of Konaté also worked well with Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool. The more recent version of him is a bit more error prone — and a lot of that has to do with his mental battles.
Can Mourinho unlock the best version of Konaté? It will be desperately needed.
CESAR PALACIOS
Palacios plays in the position Real Madrid are the most abundant in, which is a classic problem Real Madrid academy players run into. Irrespective: Palacios is awesome and has a solid playing career ahead of him.
Fulham should be fun to watch with the holy trifecta of Arbeloa, Gonzalo, Palacios.
Palacios has something that I can’t quite describe. It’s an instinct — a football wizardry — that you can’t teach. Watch his first touch and how he somehow comes out of heavy pressure unscathed with the ball still at his feet. He has a unique football brain and supremely gifted just outside the opponents’ box.
My prediction: His value will skyrocket in the next few years.
FRANCO MASTANTUONO
Mastantuono going out on loan was always going be one of the biggest needs of this transfer window. He needs to play, develop, and acclimatize himself to European football. There are glimpses of his talent here and there: the shoulder drops, the cuts inside and out, his menacing pressing. Remember: He turned 19 just this month.
But there is a lot to improve on, and Mastantuono will have to develop his game not only technically, but also tactically. He will need to become more of a pure right winger to fit into European football, or else he’ll fall into the same bucket of pseudo 10 / winger hybrids that Real Madrid already have in the pipeline.
Mastantuno’s first touch is heavy and clunky. He lacks the speed of a traditional winger. His passing isn’t fine-tuned yet enough to be a reliable creator.
In his first interview with Fiorentina this month, he stated that he is aware he needs to improve his defense.
Maybe. But that’s the last thing I thought of. Mastantuono needs to sharpen his offensive skills to become a more prolific line-breaking dribbler. He also needs to polish his touch and passing.
