Valdano Was Wrong I Suppose

By: Corey | June 13th, 2009

Jorge Valdano, who’s official title still escapes me, mentioned in an interview recently that he believed several of the cantera boys simply were not good enough to play for Real Madrid. Now this may be a fair assessment, given the lack of strength in depth the Castilla team had this year in its inability to regain promotion to the Segunda. The club bought more then a few youngsters to fill in the ranks because several of the C team players simply were to young to make the step up this year. You would reckon that next year many of the Castilla players will be C team players (such as Victor Merchan or Samu, names to remember) or below with a massive clear out of Castilla expected this summer besides a few key performers, and it seems logical that the C team will go through a rebuilding season just like the Castilla team. Not true for the u-18 (Juvenil A and B teams combined) team that was competing at the u-18 Clubs World Cup.

They beat Barcelona in the final to become the best u-18 team in the world yesterday, so congratulations to them for that accomplishment. Its fitting that Real and Barca would come up against one another in a competition that pits the best teams of the world against one another. In this case, it showed the strength of the two canteras in producing top quality talent. Although no word on what happens after these kids win everything in sight then never make it to the Real first team….

Anyways, the Juvenil team made Valdano eat his words yesterday, as the cantera showed their is still life in it. Many of the winning players will be making the step up to either the C or Castilla teams this summer, including highly touted playmaker Pablo Sarabia. The great hope still lives on with the kids of the cantera, and during a summer that has seen two mega transfers coincide with the little known piece of information that Alvaro Negredo has returned to Real and ex-canterano Esteban Granero is sure to rejoin him, there still is hope for youth team players to make it. Valdano threw down the gauntlet to the lads, so lets hope for more from them in the future. As always, coverage of Real’s youth categories, including Castilla’s preseason preparations can be found here on the Real Offside.