With only the Spanish Super Cup to show for the 2019/20 season so far, and arch rivals Barcelona in the box seat for another La Liga triumph, Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez, is wasting no time in freshening up the side as he looks to youth to bring back the glory days.
In Zinedine Zidane’s second period in the hot seat at the Santiago Bernabeu, Los Blancos haven’t looked as good as they did when the Frenchman took them to three successive Champions League titles.
That could be attributed to the fact that many of Real’s current starting XI – Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric to name just two – are the wrong side of 30, and are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning.
To that end, Perez wants to see as many as nine U23 players in his starting XI from 2021, according to Don Balon.
Already in situ are the likes of Fede Valverde, Eder Militao, Luka Jovic, Vinicius Jr. and Reinier Jesus, with both Achraf Hakimi and Takefusa Kubo expected to return from their loans at Borussia Dortmund and Mallorca respectively.
The crowning glory of the new look Real, according to Don Balon, are the captures of Kylian Mbappe, at a conservative estimate of €200m and Erling Haaland at €75m.
If everything falls into place as Perez hopes, then he’ll likely have a team to rival that from the Galactico era.