Mundo Deportivo: Real Madrid Recoup €210m by Selling Academy Players; Barcelona Earn €44.5m

According to Mundo Deportivo, Real Madrid earned around €210 million this summer from selling academy players, while Barcelona have also started trying a similar model.

Real Madrid completed four paid signings this summer, with fixed transfer fees totaling €225 million, and the figure could increase further due to add-ons. Specifically, they were Diomande for €125 million, Cucurella for €55 million, Espi for €25 million, and Dumfries for €20 million. Real Madrid raised around €210 million almost entirely by selling academy players who were no longer part of their short-term or medium-term plans, covering most of their spending.

Real Madrid have not made room for major academy prospects in their first team for a long time, but the club has made up for the lack of sporting returns from La Fabrica by selling players at high prices. Most deals include buy-back clauses, future priority purchase rights, or the retention of 50% registration rights. Barcelona have also started trying this approach, though on a smaller scale. Barcelona have already earned close to €45 million by selling academy players who are not in Flick's plans.

Among the deals through which Real Madrid earned income from 13 academy players, excluding Fran Garcia, only Gonzalo Garcia (€40 million) belonged to the first team. The forward has already moved to Fulham, coached by Arbeloa, while Cesar Palacios (€10 million) and Manuel Angel Morán (€4 million) also joined the same club. Last season, the Salamanca-born coach gave both players opportunities to appear at the Bernabeu.

Jacobo Ortega (€10 million), Victor Valdepenas (€8 million), and Fran Gonzalez (€3 million) are the other three players who were part of Real Madrid's academy last season and left the club this summer. As with other cases, Real Madrid retained medium-term control over their future development: they can either return to the Bernabeu through buy-backs or generate income if they are transferred again by their new clubs in the future.

The players who truly brought Real Madrid major income this summer came through another method. Victor Munoz (€20.5 million), Mario Gila (€15 million), Alex Jimenez (€12.5 million), Alvaro Rodriguez (€12.5 million), Chema Andres (€11.5 million), and Mario Martin (€3 million) no longer belong to Real Madrid, but after the clubs that previously bought 50% of their registration rights from Real Madrid sold them again, they generated additional revenue for the club. Some of them had never even made their first-team debuts.

The case of Nico Paz (€60 million) is particularly notable. Real Madrid sold half of his registration rights to Como last year, and this summer transferred the other half in a complex operation while retaining an €80 million buy-back option. The Argentina international wanted to continue playing under Fabregas, which also made the deal Real Madrid's most profitable operation this summer.

Barcelona earned €44.5 million through eight academy players. This does not include almost negligible training compensation generated by players such as Cucurella and Nicolas Gonzalez, nor the €11 million paid by Monaco for Fati, because Fati had already established himself on the European top stage for more than five years. Casado and Balde could have increased the total, but the former was eventually loaned out while the latter remained in the squad.

Like Real Madrid, Barcelona also chose this summer to sell 50% of the registration rights of some academy players while retaining priority buy-back rights. Tommy Marquez (€11 million), Hector Fort (€8.5 million), Jofre Torrents (€6 million), Guille Fernandez (€4 million), Toni Fernandez (€4 million), and Alvaro Cortes (€3.4 million) all left Barcelona this summer through this method. Last year, Barcelona used the same approach with Jan Virgili (€4.5 million). He has now moved from Mallorca to Club Brugge, bringing new income to Barcelona.

The final case is Inaki Pena (€3 million). This transfer differs from the others, firstly because the player is already 27 years old, and secondly because he had completely terminated his contract with Barcelona, meaning the club retained no priority buy-back rights over his registration. Barcelona earned around €44.5 million in total from academy players this summer, almost matching the transfer income from Ferran Torres and more than double the fee the team paid for Adeyemi. La Masia is not only supplying players for the first team but also continuously increasing Barcelona's revenue.