Dribble to crisis

Real Madrid analyzed many years ago the new football panorama that the State-Clubs were going to provoke. With the basic premise that the club should remain in the hands of the members, Florentino and José Ángel Sánchez changed course of what had been the Madrid of the galactic signings at the blow of the checkbook in previous years: it was time to cook the great incorporations over a slow fire.

Therefore, the club took two lines of recruitment: on the one hand, to incorporate the best young people and on the other, wait for the strategic signings to approach the end of their contract. In this second section, there are three world-class footballers who have recently arrived being in the best moment of their sports careers: Courtois, Hazard and Alaba.

The first two arrived the summer in which they entered their last year of contract, while the third landed with the letter of freedom under his arm. The first signing was that of Courtois, in a position in which Madrid were looking for a replacement for Keylor (he had also tried to sign Kepa with the same strategy, a few months after finishing his contract, but Zidane stopped him). The Belgian goalkeeper arrived in the summer of 2018, after being named best goalkeeper of the World Cup in Russia (he reached the semi-finals with Belgium) and for a price well below what the market indicated. Transfermarkt He then valued it at 65 million euros and it arrived … for 35. For comparison, the substitute that summer for Courtois at Chelsea was precisely Kepa, who was then valued at 20 million, but by whom blues they had to pay 80 …

Hazard

The following summer, the strategy was repeated with Hazard. Now, with the passage of time, the operation has not turned out as expected, although analyzing the situation in which it was carried out, it was a complete success. The Belgian was a world top-5, he had just won the Europa League being decisive and Transfermarkt He valued it at 150 million euros. Under normal conditions, Chelsea would not have even listened to offers And, had it done so, the required price would have been exorbitant. However, entering his last year on the market, he was forced to accept an offer from Real Madrid for 110 million euros plus variable, below its market value at the time.

This past summer, Madrid again simmered the signing of a world figure, although this time it was even more profitable: Alaba landed at the Bernabéu at zero cost, because the contract ended. At the time he signed his signature as a new white footballer, his market value was 55 million euros, although the reality is that Bayern had not even considered sitting down to negotiate for what had been one of the pillars of his squad, either as a central, left-back or even a midfielder.

Mbappe

Now, Madrid hopes to deliver the final blow to consolidate this strategy next summer. The big goal is Mbappé, whose market value right now is 160 million euros and for which PSG rejected a Madrid offer of 200 million euros, an amount that Madrid would now save if it arrives next summer after ending its contract with the Parisians on June 30, 2022.

The Frenchman is the primary target, but Madrid are also working on convincing Rudiger to join the project, because the 29-year-old German center-back is also in his last year of contract. It comes from being a basic piece in the European champion Chelsea and right now its market value amounts to 35 million euros …