Real Madrid have made it a hallmark of their recruitment over the past five years to bring in the most talented young players in football, and it is one that has worked wonders for them. The progress of Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius Junior and Arda Guler so far more than outweighs the disappointing additions, with the flag for that category being carried by Reinier Jesus.
Los Blancos secured many of these players earlier than other top European clubs, with Barcelona initially pursuing Vinicius and Guler, while Chelsea were keen on Endrick Felipe beforehand.
At the most recent 'Copinha', the name for the Sao Paulo Under-20 State Championship, the stands were filled with scouts from Europe's top clubs, including Barcelona, Chelsea and PSG. Yet, to the surprise of some, there was no Real Madrid presence at the competition.
According to Sport, this is not unusual in one of the markets that Los Blancos have dominated in recent years. They claim that Real Madrid do not rely on a wide network of scouts in the region, but rather keep their ear to the ground for activities from Europe's other top scouting systems. Once another top European club has identified a talent, Real Madrid will consider scouting them and then taking steps to be in the best position to sign them.
Their scouting strategy is led by chief scout Juni Calafat, who played a key role in securing the signatures of Vinicius, Rodrygo and most recently Endrick. If so, it's certainly a smart way to go about it and reduce resource use, provided they can do it effectively. So far things are going well for Calafat and Real Madrid.
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