Under-23 Real Madrid: now the focus is on youth
The average age of the players Real Madrid have bought in the last six seasons is 22.83 years. With Brahim Díaz (19) the trend for buying younger players continues.
Something must have changed in Florentino's outlook in the summer of 2013 to make the Real Madrid president turn from signing established, superstar players to focus on promising younger players. Maybe it was a means to start lowering expenditure for leaner times ahead or simply a way of pulling out of an escalating and overpriced market, propelled by the big spending of Europe's major clubs to reserve income for other projects such as the remodelling of the Bernabéu. Whatever the reason, the signing of Brahim Díaz, aged 19 for just 15 million euros (plus add-ons), is the latest example of Madrid's new politicy of signing younger players.
How the average age of Real Madrid signings has dropped
Comparing Madrid's transfer dealings in Florentino's second spell in office since his return in 2009, we can see how the average age of new signings has dropped from 24 (09-10) to under 23 since the 2013-14 season.
| SEASON | AVERAGE AGE | PRICE IN MILLIONS |
| 09-10 | 24 | 250 |
| 10-11 | 23,71 | 75 |
| 11-12 | 23 | 57 |
| 12-13 | 28,66 | 33,5 |
| 13-14 | 22 | 182,2 |
| 14-15 | 22,83 | 133,3 |
| 15-16 | 22,16 | 77,9 |
| 16-17 | 19,5 | 91 |
| 17-18 | 19,5 | 44,5 |
| 18-19 | 21 | 152 |
During the last six seasons, Madrid have signed 27 players - all with a young profile. The average age of the players brought in during that time is 21.16 years. The total spending to rejuvenate the team was 680.9 million euros - 152 million of that correspondto the most recent arrivals, all of them from last June: Rodrygo (40), Lunin (9), Odriozola (30), Courtois (35), Mariano (23) and Brahim (15).
