Real Madrid's South American raid: Why are they avoiding transfers with LaLiga clubs?

€45m spent 

Real Madrid's recent acquisition of exciting teenager Franco Mastantuono from River Plate caught the eye of Spanish football observers, not only because of the exorbitant €45million fee and the statement his signing sends to the world. It also proved to be another case of Madrid looking away from home in LaLiga to bolster their squad for the future.

Madrid have tapped their extensive South American scouting network again to bring in one of the most-coveted youngsters in the world, with Mastantuono tracked by both Chelsea and PSG for several months before heading to the Spanish capital. The 17-year-old linked up with his new club last week to become the fourth arrival after Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen and Álvaro Carreras. New boss Xabi Alonso is strengthening his squad to mount a title challenge against reigning champions Barcelona, but the Spaniard is following the lead of predecessors Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti by looking beyond LaLiga to do that.

In terms of the clubs Madrid have conducted business with since the start of the 2016/17 season, only Espanyol are able to squeeze into the top 15 with two separate deals involving Joselu. The striker initially joined on loan before sealing a permanent transfer to the Santiago Bernabeu, with fees totalling just €2m. Above them are a range of South American clubs, chiefly from Argentina and Brazil, where business has been frequent and financially fluid. Real have splashed out €75m on two transfers from Flamengo, Vinicius Junior and Reinier, since 2018. The Spanish giants also dug deep into their pockets to capture another Brazilian forward, Rodrygo, from Santos for €45m. After witnessing the rise of Vinicius and Rodrygo to becoming world-class footballers, Los Blancos renewed their Brazilian links to sign Endrick from Palmeiras in 2023 for an initial €47.5m.

Compare those deals with the number of times they have raided their fellow LaLiga clubs and it tells a completely different story, with only €77.5m heading into Spanish clubs' bank accounts. Real Sociedad lie just outside of the top 15 clubs in 16th, while city rivals Atlético Madrid are 19th, Real Betis are 22nd and Rayo Vallecano are ranked 25th. In the past, Madrid have reaped the benefits from luring talents from rivals clubs in the same league, poaching Sergio Ramos from Sevilla at a young age in 2006, Isco from Málaga in 2013 and Marco Asensio from RCD Mallorca in 2015.

But many saw that as a consequence of Madrid failing to develop talents from their own academy system. Some 15 years down the line, however, and the situation has changed drastically. After investing heavily into their academy, Madrid have been able to count more on players with the club's 'DNA' ingrained into them. Their initial transfer strategy was to sell players for low fees and include buy-back clauses for nominal values, eliminating the risk of them having to pay huge amounts if they wanted to re-sign them further down the line. They ended up taking up this option to bring back Dani Carvajal, José Callejón, Lucas Vázquez, Álvaro Morata, Fran García and Carreras from Benfica this summer. However, with a €50m fee, the left-back represents the highest expenditure by some margin.

Gradually, under Ancelotti's guise, Madrid have turned to homegrown talent to help fill their squad. Raúl Asencio, Fran García and Gonzalo García have been successful in earning a place in the senior squad. Others such as Nico Paz, Rafa Marin, Juanmi Latasa and Antonio Blanco have moved elsewhere in search of football, having failed to break into the first team. Having a solid base of promising youth talent emerging from within eliminates the need to go hunting around other clubs in Spain, who know Madrid are armed with significant funds and can therefore hold them to ransom.

Instead, they prefer to do their shopping in the Latin American regions, knowing they can negotiate from a position of strength as clubs in South America rely on sales to pay their bills. Few can blame Real for doing so - Vinicius' market value is now €170m (up from €35m when they signed him seven years ago), while Rodrygo is valued at €90m.

Whether their transfer market strategy will change now that Alonso is at the helm is anyone's guess. But the fact that none of their four signings this summer were brought in from other Spanish clubs indicates Madrid are content to steer clear of what LaLiga has to offer - for now at least.