Real will earn 100 million just from their castoffs

It used to be common knowledge that the best football academy in Europe was Ajax's. Barcelona's La Masia may not have produced the highest quantity of players, but it consistently delivered exceptional quality. In recent years, however, Real Madrid have also begun to reap the rewards of their work with young talents. Even though the Madrid giants rarely produce youngsters who go on to become first-team regulars in a squad filled with some of the world's best players, they have become extremely successful at generating significant transfer income from them.

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This transfer window is a perfect example. Real Madrid signed Marc Cucurella for 55 million euros, Denzel Dumfries for 20 million, and paid another 15 million to appoint Jose Mourinho. Bernardo Silva and Ibrahima Konate arrived on free transfers, so they are not part of this calculation. The calculation shows that the transfer fees for those first three acquisitions have effectively been covered entirely by selling players who did not play a single minute for Real Madrid last season. In fact, there will probably be money left over, as the club could receive well over 100 million euros from players many of their own fans might not even recognize on the street. More than half of that amount—exactly 60 million—came from Nico Paz. He joined Como during the 2024/25 season for six million, only for the Italian club to pay ten times that amount to keep him ahead of their Champions League debut. Real first exercised their buy-back clause for nine million before immediately selling him back to Como for 60 million euros.

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Víctor Munoz, who flourished at Osasuna, moved to Liverpool in a 40 million transfer, with half of that fee going to Real Madrid. The Spanish giants had previously sold 50% of his rights to Osasuna for five million, a sum that is not included in this calculation. So, it is fair to say Real earned 20 million from him rather than 25 million euros. Next comes Mario Gila, who is heading to AC Milan, and Alvaro Rodríguez, who is joining Bournemouth. Both deals are expected to generate profits of around 15 million each for Real Madrid. Add another 3.5 million from Mario Martín, whose loan move to Getafe has been made permanent. In his case, Real have also retained at least a 50% sell-on clause and, ideally, a buy-back option as well, just in case he exceeds expectations.

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It is a business model that works perfectly. Other clubs pay the salaries. Other clubs guarantee the playing time. Real Madrid reap the rewards. And they are not finished yet. Sergio Arribas, last season's top scorer in Spain's Segunda División, is expected to join Benfica, while the Royal Club can sit back and wait for another 12.5 million euros to arrive.

WORLD CUP - KNOCKOUT STAGE

Quarter-finals

Thursday

23.00: (1.60) France (4.00) Morocco (6.20)

Friday

22.00: (1.65) Spain (4.00) Belgium (5.50)

Sunday

00.00: (4.00) Norway (3.70) England (1.90)

04.00: (1.75) Argentina (3.50) Switzerland (5.50)

***odds are subject to change***