Toril: "Madrid will sign a striker and leave Mayoral in the cold"

Former Real Madrid Castilla coach Alberto Toril discussed the current situation with the club's youth academy with Spanish radio, Cadena Cope. Toril insists that there are too few opportunities being given to the players emerging from the lower categories, and also spoke about those have broke through into the first team squad such as Borja Mayoral, Lucas Vázquez and Jesé as well as revealing that several years ago, Castilla passed up the chance to sign Paul Pogba.

The need to give opportunities to home-grown players:

Madrid demand allegiance and you get that from the players who have come up through the youth system. If you analyze all of the successful sides in the history of football, such as Barça or Sacchi's AC Milan side, the nucleus of those sides was formed by players groomed in the youth teams”.

“Players who are brought in from elsewhere also want to win but they don't have the same sentiment as those who have come through the ranks”.

“(At Madrid) it's difficult for a player who plays from midfield to attack to enter the first team. It's easier for a defender to make it into the senior side”.

“The players in the reserves know who difficult it is to graduate to the first team and keep their place. It's hard enough to make it to the first team, but it's even harder for them to keep their place”.

Jesé, Lucas y Mayoral:

“During the last 20, 25 years, we've seen Jesé come through and although he's had injuries, he still hasn't been able to carve out a regular place in the first team because Madrid are always going to sign the best players in the world in his position; so they're not going to give him the continuity or confidence he needs to develop his potential”.

“Lucas Vázquez is a real live wire - he's a fast, explosive player. He's given the team the penetration they have been lacking in recent weeks”.

“I've been following Borja's progress and he's a player I know well although I didn't coach him during my time at the club. Now he's playing, but next year, the club will sign another striker to compete with Benzema and he'll be left out in the cold He needs to be given confidence, like for example, with Raúl”.