Real Madrid Castilla 08/09

This post took me two weeks, so enjoy it.

So begins a new year in the cantera of Real Madrid. The Castilla team narrowly missed out on the promotion playoffs last season, but minus a few disguards and three players called up to the first team, they have every chance of pushing for promotion once again. They have also made some interesting signings, with the likes of Fran Rico from Pontevedra, Migeul Palanca and Jose Zamora from Espanyol, Guillermo Diaz Ubieta (a massive 18 year old center back) from Murcia who will probably be with the C team to start, and some other player I dont remember his name though, shoot. Ahh! Javier Modrego, who was with Castilla last season, but has now been purchased outright from Real Valladolid, and who is being called the “Xabi Alonso of Valladolid”.

Transfer Gossip
Castilla (well, Real Madrid) is interested in Borussia Dortmunds young center back/defensive midfielder Marc-Andre Kruska. He is a phenomenal talent in my opinion, making 96 appearances for Dortmund and he is only 20. He is a cross between a young Christoph Metzelder and Sebastien Kehl, both Dortmund standouts. The intial idea is to bring him in this summer and have him train with Real, but ultimately help Castilla in their push for promotion, occassionally being called up to the full squad if needed.

Also interesting Castilla is Mateo Musacchio, a River Plater player who is an Argentine youth international, u-17. He is a central defender who has made first team appearances in 06-07, and is a great prospect. Negotiations are on-going, but I have not seen any mention of this on Real’s main site. We will have to wait and see if this becomes a transfer, but with the surprise signings of Juan Forlin and Villafane from Boca last year, you never know. Tottenham have been sniffing around as well, and Wikipedia has him as being on Castilla’s roster, although this cant be confirmed.

I like the idea, and I think we should use the Castilla team as a reserve squad for our

younger

(u-23) players more often. Drenthe, Higuain, Gago etc. would have had an easier time adjusting to Spain if we had done this.

Affiliated Club Deal
Also in the offing is the recent deal that Pedja pushed through, creating a partnership with Standard Liege of Belgium. Standard have a good academy, with a robust scouting network in Africa, but the main goal of this partnership is for Real to send some young players to Standard for playing time in the Belgian first division, as it is not as intense as La Liga, but possibly a step up from the third division. Its a good idea, many European clubs have official links in Belgium, and we have expanded our scouting network which is always a plus.

There is also the possibility of having a closer look at promising youngsters in the Standard team, namely Moraune Felliani, a towering defensive midfielder, Steven Defor, an exceptionally gifted and creative playmaker and Axel Witsel, a small but fast right winger.

There most recently friendly was a 1-0 win over Real Avila, with a goal from Javi Hernandez.

They then beat Gimnástica Segoviana 1-0, with a goal from Szalai, in a match that featured almost all the Castilla players. Of note is that Opare played very well from what I read, which is exciting news.

Player Movement
There has also been some internal player movement. Dani Parejo, Felipe Ramos, Chema Anton and Juanmi Callejon have been called up to the first team (Parejo has went on loan at QPR for two season a strange move), while Nieto, Jose Maria Callejon, David Moreno, and Juan Forlin have left. Opare will begin his first full season with the team, while Alvaro Lopez, captain of the Spain u-17 team that is European Champion currently, has been promoted from the C team along with Javi, Jesus Berrocal and Oscar Reyes. Also notable, Pedro Mosquera and Alberto Bueno will be with the Castilla team for another year, while Agus has returned from his loan at Celta.

Theres always alot of coming and going with the Castilla team, and even with a decent knowledge of Spanish I still find it difficult to find credible information on alot of these players. I will try and do a profile of some of the more notable prospects with what information I could scronge together. I have the full team list here:

Adam, Mejías, Coca, Velayos, Opare, Nacho, Villafañe, Agus, Mateos, Gary, Schorch, Oscar Reyes, Fran Rico, Alvaro Lopez, Tébar, Modrego, Vázquez, Gorka, Zamora, Javi H., Mosquera, Palanca, Szalai, Bueno, Berrocal and Carnero.

Opare many people know alot about, he is a very talented right back with the potential to play for the first team next year, so we will be following his progress closely. He certainly isnt the first African Castilla player to be touted for big things in the future (Lionnel Frank, on the C team, is also a ver promising youngster).

Jesus Berrocal bagged a butt load of goals for most of the junior teams, while Oscar Reyes is highly rated. Alvaro Lopez will be one to keep an eye out for, as captains of the national team usually have a fair amount of potential. Adan will be captain this year, but questions remain as to the viability of his talent still. Bueno and Callejon will be the leaders on the team, and hopefully will help restore it to the Second Division.

Other players like Agus, Gary, Tebar and Modrego will provide experience to the setup, and I expect Tebar to be the captain of the side, and its a pity he wont get a shot at the Real first team, but I rate Javi Garcia and De la Red more than him. He will be a useful Liga player one day though no doubt.

Player Profiles

Marcos Tebar

Marcos Tebar is a very rugged central midfielder, who encompasses both the defensive duties of say Diarra with the forward movement and passing of Sneijder. He has been with Real for a long time, and first trained with the Real first team 4 years ago! Some say his potential has been lost because he never moved on from Castilla, but with him unlikely to feature for Reals first team, he will be putting himself in the shop window for a move. He is also the captain of the side.

Gary Kagelmacher

Gary intially came to Castilla on loan, but the coaches liked what they saw and signed him permanetll this summer. He is Uruguayan, but has some sort of European passport, I believe German or Austrian, that allows him to play for Castilla. A strong and imposing center back, he is ever willing to fly into a tackle, but must improve his positioning and defensive awareness. He should be one of the main center backs for the season.

Antonio Adan

He was the best keeper of the young Spanish sides, but an injury last year derailed his development. He lost his place to Felipe Ramos, the third best keeper behind David De Gea in the Spain youth teams, and now Felipe is with the first team. Well, Felipe is back with Castilla after preseason so Adan may lose the place he had for 15 days. But it will be interesting to see who wins the keeper battle. Unfortunately, like many before him, he wont play for Real as #1 as Casillas has another 10 years in him atleast.

Jesus Berrocal

Also a champion of Europe with Alvaro Lopez, he is a goal scorer like Roberto Soldado, and may be asked to carry the load for the Castilla team this year with the lose of 21 goal scorer Juanmi Callejon, and 10 goal scorer Dani Parejo. I think he will do pretty well in his first season, hitting double digits. I dont know if he is Real Madrid material some day though.

Fran Rico

Another player that was brought in this summer, he was a Sporting Gijon trainee that we got to replace Juanmi Callejon. I dont know much about him other then he is not a youth international and is not good enough for Gijon. A squad member at best.

Javier Modrego

The ‘Xabi Alonso’ of Valldolid, he was with Castilla last year, making a minor impact, and you can expect more of the same from his year. But with Dani Parejo out, he may find more minutes, and hopefully live up to the billing. But a Xabi Alonso type player takes a little longer to mature, so another 2 years of Castilla football seems imminent for the 19 year old.

Jose Zamora

Again, I dont know much about him, other than he came from Espanyol, and he is a winger.

Miguel Palanca

Palanca is a promising right winger from the Espanyol B team, he has also made one appearance for the first team at the end of the year. He supposively was not included in the deal that took Jaunmi Callejon to Esapnyol, but that seems unlikely. He is pretty quick, and has decent ball skills, but he must improve his finishing. He could become a Real player someday, if Schuster ever bothers to pay attention to his skill.

Pedro Mosquera

What the hell happened to him? He looks all emo now because he didnt train with the first team? Well, he was one of the players I highlighted in last years Castilla preview. But he so far has not had the kind of impact we expected. He has had some interested suitors from La Liga, mainly Osasuna, and Zaragoza liked him for awhile. He is one of the leaders of the Castilla team now, but he will be sold quietly next year for sure. To bad too.

Daniel Opare

A Ghana star already, his performances at the u-17 WC earned him this move, along with a bunch of his team mates who are at Atletico, Barca, Hamburg etc. I expect big things from him, I think in two years he will be in the reckoning for a first team spot.

Albeto Bueno

I wouldnt say wasted potential, but certainly stunted growth. I dont know what it is, but Rauls heir-apparent just doesnt seem to want to move up to the first team. Ever since Mata left for Valencia, he has been subdued, and he know doesnt even really score goals, as he plays deeper as an attacking midfielder. Strange case to me, I hope he gets his act together.

Christopher Schorch

Brought in from Hertha Berlin, Scorch had a respectable first season, and will look to improve on that. Bernd has said he is a good player, but still a young player, so another 2 years and he may make the jump up. But why is it I think of Jeffrey when I see Scorch?

Alvaro Lopez

Ok, so here is the new poster boy of Madrid. The u-17 winning captain of Spain, the central midfielder was playing for Juvenile A last year where he was a stand out in their successful season. He has jumped a level to the Castilla team, so this year may come with some growing pains for the 17 year old, but I think he has alot of potential. But then again, he has Dani Parejo and Granero to measure up to first when it comes to outstanding central midfielders for the future of Real. My guess is with two good seasons with Castilla he will get a loan and then all best are off.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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