Football news - How Real Madrid fell in love with France again

Three priority targets. Three talented targets. Three promising targets. But above all else, three French targets. Eduardo Camavinga, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe are the names in vogue as far as transfers to the Santiago Bernabeu are concerned. And that is without considering some of the even younger French stars who are being watched by the Real scouting staff.

When he took over at Real Zinedine Zidane had two French players in his squad, now there are five including son Luca, currently gaining experience out on loan. That number is set to grow this summer.

This was not specifically planned but things haven’t worked out quite as Florentino Perez intended. At the beginning of the 2010s Perez found himself in a pickle. He was caught trying to appease those who wanted Real to continue to be big spenders in the market and those who wanted to follow more of a Barcelona style of developing their own talent. The solution was simple, sign the best young Spanish players and watch them develop into headline acts at the Bernabeu.

Between 2013 and 2020 a whole host of young talent arrived in the capital: Asier Illarramendi, Alvaro Odriozola, Isco, Brahim Diaz, Dani Ceballos, Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio all arrived to help with the supposed “Spanishisation” of Real. The result?

“Perez attempted the revolution by signing quality players Spanish players like Asensio, Brahim or Isco,” says Fermin Delacalle a journalist for Eurosport Spain.

“But a Spanish team should be playing and winning for their employers. What is not the case today..."

Los Blancos wanted to ride a tsunami that ended up becoming a Mediterranean wave.

“They tried to set-up a policy to recover their Spanish identity in the early 2000s but it depends on the players available in any given generation,” explains Thomas,

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“At that time it was Spaniards who flooded the market now it is French players.”

The drying of the talent well can be seen at international level, with Spain nothing like the force they were when they won three international tournaments in a row.

So Real got down to business, targeting a country with an emerging generation of young stars full of talent and magic – everything Madrid loves – France.

“There are always trends,” says Delacalle.

“We saw it with Barca and the Dutch, Real in their Argentina phase, they are just normal cycles. Since the days of Raymond Kopa, Real has had a tradition with French players.”

Right now, the French are certainly in favour at Real.

“The latest French arrivals, or those who will arrive in the future, are all players who fit perfectly with the club’s signing policy of the past few years; they are young and promising,” Thomas adds.

“This fits in with this current era of French football, which seems to be producing star after star.”

Inevitably, Zidane will be linked to this revolution, after all before he was a coach at Real he was a sporting advisor, a role he played with notable success. He was pivotal to the Raphael Varane signing when the centre-back was just 18 years old. It was him who pushed Perez to open the chequebook to sign Eden Hazard when the Belgian was at Lille, before he eventually went on to become a world star at Chelsea. His eye on Ligue 1 has never wavered despite his increasing responsibility at Real.

“I have known him for a long time since I often watch Ligue 1,” Zidane said when presenting new signing Ferland Mendy last summer. He is not alone either. Zidane has Davide Bettoni, former French player, and Stephane Plancque, an ex-scout at Lille, at his side to keep an eye on young French talent.

And after all what better to sway a potential signee than receiving a call from the man himself? This was the case before and remains true now, Zidane’s presence will definitely be a factor if either Pogba or Mbappe do join Real this summer.

His results as a coach and sporting director speak for themselves, it has allowed him to establish himself as one of the most influential coaches for Madrid in the 21st century. Yet even still the Pogba case last summer showed that Perez isn’t totally under Zidane’s spell.

But his voice counts for more than others when it comes to shaping the future of the team.

“Zidane has much more weight in terms of recruitment than his predecessors,” Thomas says.

“Lopetegui or Benitez were far from having the same influence. Even Carlo Ancelotti in reality, since Jose Mourinho nobody has had the level of input as Zidane has had in the transfer window.”

The era of Real and the new type of Galaticos may just be beginning…