El Clasico: Eternal rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona united by shift towards smarter transfer strategy

El Clasico has always been marked by some of the greatest players to ever play the game, part of the lustre and appeal of the fixture comes from seeing the best go against the best. However, what is not always talked about as much, is some of the truly astonishing transfer business conducted by the two giants over the years. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have plenty of skeletons in the transfer closet, more than a few millions down the drain thanks to ill-advised pursuits.

Ad/> No club is perfect, but there are obviously some who are better, and crucially more sensible, than others. That is true across the divisions, it’s just that there is understandably more of a microscope on the bigger clubs. TransfersReal Madrid planning Hazard sale to raise funds for Haaland — Paper Round11 HOURS AGO But it is starting to feel as if the two giants of Spanish and global football are starting to move towards a more coherent strategy.

Let’s start with the league leaders and title favourites. Real’s last real transfer error was their decision to invest in a bunch of young Spanish players. The premise was sound, stock the squad with domestic players to help with squad registration rules and use the long-term savings on their signings to add those few global superstars.

However it didn’t really work. Since the summer of 2015 to 2019 Real signed Kiko Casilla, Jesus Vallejo, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Omar Mascarell, Brahim Diaz, and Alvaro Odriozola. This is as well as promoting or signing young players like Achraf Hakimi, Dani Ceballos, Theo Hernandez, Mariano Diaz, Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente, Martin Odegaard, Sergio Reguilon, Oscar Rodriguez and Federico Valverde.