Sometimes you have to leave the most famous club in the world to become a star.
Real Madrid have produced many world-class players in recent times, but not all of them have succeeded at the Bernabeu. For every Raul or Iker Casillas, there are countless other Madrid academy graduates building careers outside of Real Madrid.
The situation is approximately similar at Spartak, where a large number of academy graduates left for other clubs. Now the situation is RPL stabilizes a little – Spartak graduates are not the only ones conquering other teams.
As for Real, let’s remember which of the team’s graduates showed themselves more brilliant than the others when leaving the Madrid club.
Juan Matá
Mata made his mark at Valencia, but it was Real Madrid who noticed his talent in 2003. Juan spent the 2006/07 season in Madrid’s main team, scoring nine goals in 39 matches. El Confidencial revealed footage from 2009 of Florentino Perez criticizing former Madrid legend Michel, claiming he was responsible for Mata’s departure. The Real Madrid boss said:
I think Michel was the one who made the hole for Mata to leave, he was the one who kicked him out of Castilla to put his son in the team.
After Valencia, Mata played for Chelsea and Manchester United and established himself as a true professional.
Marcos Llorente
Atlético signed this midfielder for a decent sum – around 40 million euros, that was in 2019, since then Marcos has been an integral part of Diego Simeone’s gang. Llorente played a key role in Atlético’s La Liga victory in the 2020/21 season, and this season he has made 15 appearances in the Spanish league, almost always starting. However, Llorente has one Champions League win with Real Madrid, and he certainly won’t forget this triumph.
Juanfran
Juanfran made over 350 appearances for Atlético, but he actually started at Real Madrid. The defender progressed through youth level and made his first-team debut in January 2004. He made 11 appearances for Real before leaving the club in 2005. He is unlikely to regret his decision.
Dani Parejo
Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano described teenager Parejo as “the best talent in the academy, an incredible player, a phenomenon”. After such compliments, it’s hard not to be wrong. Parejo made just five first-team appearances before being sent to Getafe in 2009. The 35-year-old is in the twilight of his career, but he certainly won’t be forgotten by supporters at Valencia, where he spent almost 10 years and played nearly 300 matches. Since 2020 he plays for Villarreal.
Marcos Alonso
Alonso, born in Madrid, joined Real Madrid’s academy as a child and even made one senior appearance before joining Bolton for the 2010 season. The Madrid team tried to reclaim their pupil, but he did not there was no going back. And this trip to England decided Alonso’s fate: in transit through Fiorentina, he found himself first in Sunderland and then in Chelsea, where he announced himself to the whole world. The split with Real is said to have been tinged with scandal, and that’s why Alonso wasn’t afraid to move to Barcelona at one point.
Real Madrid was the best for my development. I stayed there for many years. I grew as a person and as a player.
Alonso now plays for Celta and is capable of playing at a high level for several more seasons.
Pablo Sarabia
Although he started out at Real Madrid, flourished at Sevilla and then spent four years in Paris, it seems that it is only now that we are really starting to see Sarabia reach his potential, although he is already 32 years old. Sarabia didn’t enter the Premier League until 2023, but at least he finally found his team, as it seems from the outside. An intelligent and technically gifted winger, he only gets better with age. The Wolves will certainly need him.
Emiliano Buendia
Aston Villa star Buendia spent a year at Real Madrid’s academy in 2009. In Madrid, things did not go smoothly for the Argentine; he was soon taken to Getafe, where Emiliano made his professional debut. The midfielder left Argentina as a teenager to pursue a career in Europe and, despite his Spanish nationality, he eventually chose the Argentine national team – even managing to get into a scandal during the match against Brazil. He now hopes to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Philippe Lienhart
It’s not the most famous name on our list. Lienhart started out at Rapid Vienna, but joined Real Madrid’s academy as a teenager in 2014 and eventually played for Castilla under Zinedine Zidane. The Austrian never had the chance to break into the main team of Real Madrid. He had to leave to develop further and eventually joined Freiburg in 2017, where he has remained ever since – considered one of the best defenders in the division. Lienhart is also a footballer for the Austrian national team.
Borja Mayoral
Mayoral was part of Real Madrid’s system for 15 years but only made 33 appearances for the club before leaving in 2022. He spent most of his time on loan, but a few years ago he left completely to join Getafe – he loves this Real Madrid graduate club, we can’t say anything. And just a year and a half ago he could have found himself in the camp of Madrid’s bitter rival. With 19 goals in La Liga last season, Jude Bellingham became the only Real Madrid player to surpass Mayoral’s 15. In the current La Liga, the striker has only scored 2 goals so far.
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