After weeks of intense negotiations, Real Madrid have finally signed Arda Guler from Fenerbahce, beating fierce rivals Barcelona to the Turkish youngster.
The Athletic reported earlier this week that Guler, 18, had chosen Madrid over Barca. He will cost Real €20million ($21.7m; £17.1m), with add-ons that could see the fee potentially rise to €30m. Guler joins Madrid on a six-year deal with the immediate aim of establishing himself in Carlo Ancelotti’s first team and will wear the number 24.
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The option of a spell at Real Madrid Castilla — the club’s reserve team that is full of youth players — or a loan move elsewhere were not considered feasible. Instead, Guler will be part of the team-wide rebuild led by Juni Calafat, Madrid’s chief scout, as Los Blancos transition to a younger team.
“If they give me the opportunity to play, I’m going to take it,” Guler said in the press conference following his unveiling on Friday. “The option of going out on loan is not in my plans.”
Calafat has made a point in recent years of bringing in the most promising players on the international scene at a lower price than might be expected elsewhere. Madrid have quickly become a team of young players with high potential, bolstered by the experience of club legends such as Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. It is a stark contrast to Florentino Perez’s first spell as president in the 2000s, when Real seemed to sign a proven Galactico every summer.
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Madrid have beaten a host of other clubs to the signings of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham in the past six years, while the Brazilian attacker Endrick will join when he turns 18 next year.
The strategy is not without its problems. There is already an overload in midfield, with Federico Valverde, Camavinga, Tchouameni, Bellingham and the recently renewed Dani Ceballos vying for a place, as well as Modric and Kroos. That is without including Antonio Blanco, the Madrid youth product who spent the second half of last season on loan at Deportivo Alaves and is expected to leave.
Real Madrid's midfielders last season*
*Only counting La Liga games
There are also question marks over Ancelotti’s future. Brazil are determined to make him their next head coach and, earlier this week, the president of their FA (the CBF), Ednaldo Rodrigues, appeared to confirm that the Italian would lead them at next year’s Copa America after a one-year spell at the helm for Fluminense boss Fernando Diniz. “We don’t call (Diniz) an interim coach of the national team,” Rodrigues told TV Globo. “He will come and make the transition in Brazil for Ancelotti.”
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Whether that makes Ancelotti the right person to lead Madrid’s transition is debatable. Sources close to the Madrid head coach, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, have told The Athletic he has not signed anything with Brazil as he has a contract with Real until 2024 and that Rodrigues’ words were simply another statement of intent from the head of the CBF.
In any case, Madrid do not make signings based on a single coach but rather on their long-term strategy. Guler fits into that as another promising young midfielder to add to those at Real’s disposal. Blessed with great pace, he is as comfortable in tight situations as he is in open spaces. The four-cap Turkey international is highly adaptable and appears to have all the traits needed to play for Madrid, but his position and role in Ancelotti’s squad is unclear.
(Photo: Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)As The Athletic has already reported, Ancelotti is considering changing his favoured 4-3-3 system while he waits for another striker following Karim Benzema’s departure to Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad. The Italian could switch to a 4-4-2 formation, with Brazilian duo Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr acting as the focal points in attack. He could also use a 4-2-3-1 formation, which could be better suited to Guler.
Guler played behind the striker or as a right winger for Fenerbahce. He was effective in both positions, contributing four goals and four assists in the 903 minutes he played in the Turkish Super Lig. That compares favourably to Brahim Diaz, who is returning to the Bernabeu after three years on loan at AC Milan and has signed a new contract until 2027. Diaz, 23, managed six goals and seven assists in Serie A last season but played more than double the number of minutes, albeit in a more challenging league.
With the midfield congested, Guler may want to target a spot on the right wing — particularly if Rodrygo may be used more through the middle. He will be expected to play a secondary role in the first few months of his Madrid career, which are always among the most complicated for new players. Even so, his technical attributes mean Ancelotti may look to him to unlock weaker teams with tighter defences.
Until recently, you might not have considered Real to be the ideal place for a young player to develop. Martin Odegaard and Takefusa Kubo, now flourishing at Arsenal and Real Sociedad respectively, are two examples of emerging stars who joined Madrid as teenagers, only to find they were unable to force their way into a team full of established players.
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That seems to have changed in recent years. Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo both arrived in the Spanish capital at 18, with Madrid having agreed deals for both of them before they turned that age. Both soon had starring roles and were instrumental as Real won a 14th European Cup last year.
It represents a shift in transfer policy for Madrid, who have seen how state-owned clubs such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have inflated the transfer market. Their response has been to target the next generation, with Calafat’s links in Brazil proving particularly influential in signing Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Endrick.
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Then there are the academy products whose pathway to the first team will be made even more difficult by a signing like Guler’s. Sergio Arribas, 21, and Nico Paz, 18, are two players who shone in Castilla’s ultimately unsuccessful bid to win promotion to the second division last season. Arribas was already expected to leave this summer before the Guler deal was announced, but Paz may be wondering where this leaves him.
Este vídeo de @FabricaMadrid con lo que es a día de hoy Sergio Arribas 🎯
⚡️ Este verano saldrá del Real Madrid. Muchas llamadas de España y de fuera, pero de momento ningún favorito ni nada avanzado. @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/bv5MXGWoBx
— Mario Cortegana (@MarioCortegana) June 28, 2023
Arribas and Paz do not have the same top-flight experience as the non-Spanish-born youngsters already thriving in the first team. With Real more willing to give a chance to players from abroad with top-flight experience, the most effective route to the senior team appears to be leaving to join another top side before returning home.
That was the case with two of Madrid’s signings this summer who previously played for Castilla, Fran Garcia and Joselu. Garcia, 23, enjoyed a fine season at Rayo Vallecano last campaign, which convinced Real to re-sign their academy graduate, while the 33-year-old Joselu experienced a more winding path back to the Bernabeu.
Playing for Real’s first team at a young age is an experience reserved only for a select few. And those are the ones recruited by Calafat.
(Top photo: Burak Akbulut/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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