Castilla’s Nightmare Summer – Managing Madrid

Towards the end of last season, disgruntled at the lack of quality on show for a particularly poor Castilla side, I wrote an article questioning whether La Fábrica and the reserve side was left dormant by the club, or permanently doomed. After the campaign had ended, and Castilla had finished strong to finish an expected 10th place in the Spanish third – tier, I penned another piece titled “Castilla’s Perfect Summer”. This outlined a plan to transform Castilla from a forgotten project, to a thriving talent factory once more. The answer was to reinvest. As always, the best talent was set to leave for a higher level, commanding a fee during the process. With that money, potential incomings were shortlisted that would strengthen and revitalise the team (see below), and turn them into second division promotion contenders. But how did the summer really go for Castilla? And what happened to the supposedly realistic targets that Real Madrid could and should have looked at for their reserve side? Come with me to take a look.

Before we take a look at the final squad ahead of the 2024/25 season, the management and coaching staff need to be introduced:

After five seasons with Castilla (more than that including his time with the academy), in which the Real Madrid legend had achieved everything he possibly could over than promotion, it was time for Raúl González to leave. He had been linked to stronger jobs, with the likes of Hamburg, Sevilla and Schalke all supposedly waiting for him to pick up the phone. Bizarrely, and disappointingly – he has opted to stay for a sixth season with Real Madrid Castilla. To make matters worse, his assistant, Alberto Garrido – one of the strongest coaches to come out of La Fábrica in recent times, and perhaps the mastermind behind Raúl’s successes, took the risk to come to England and coach with Watford’s first team, leaving Raúl on his own. No additional staff have been hired or promoted to Castilla, except one strength and conditioning coach. Álvaro Arbeloa took this snub well, opting to stay with Juvenil A – but the reality is he should have taken the Xabi Alonso-esque risk of finding his own way to the top. The problem now is, that the youth set-up’s two most senior coaches appear totally unambitious, and unwilling to take even the most basic of risks.

Goalkeepers

Players Out: Lucas Cañizares (Farense, £0)

Players In: Fran González (U19s)

Lucas Cañizares had a dodgy start to life with Castilla. but really blossomed into a player now ready for the Portuguese top flight with Farense. Fran González was promoted to the under-19s as predicted, but it was thought that 22 year old Mario de Luis would also be shifted, potentially for one of only two players rumoured to join Castilla this summer in Onuralp Çevikkan. Niether move happened, and Çevikkan stayed with Trabzonspor. This means that Mario de Luis is now the most experienced and best keeper, and you’d expect Fran González to be his back up (and the first team’s ‘third’ keeper). Diego Piñeiro, who makes up the three, will have to take any game he can get. With no external signings yet again, Castilla will have to rely on these incoming academy players to step up. So far, Fran has don exactly the opposite, with his disastrous debut causing his side to lose all three points on the opening day. This is a very weak goalkeeping department, even for the usually low standards.

Defenders

Players Out: Vinícius Tobías (Shakhtar Donetsk, End of Loan), Álvaro Carrillo (Eibar, £0), Marvel (Córdoba, Loan), Rafa Obrador (Deportivo de La Coruña, Loan)

Players In: David Jiménez, David Cuenca and David Ruiz (C), Youssef Enríquez (U19s)

The entire starting defence, as poor as it was, was offloaded during the summer. Unfortunately, Raúl Asencio could not be offloaded, and has stayed to the detriment of Castilla. With Vinícius Tobías gone, it seemed like one of the more difficult positions to replace was naturally sorted – with the best talent left in La Fábrica, Jesús Fortea, ready for promotion. The club did not see it that way, however – instead opting to promote the not good enough David Jiménez from the C team. Bafflingly, 22 Year old centre-back David Cuenca was also brought up from the third team. Kike Ribas is also somehow still around with the C team but will surely get more Castilla game time than necessary. It looked like young defender Joan Martínez had risen up out of nowhere to become Castilla’s saviour, until a long term story heavily postponed those hopes. Moroccan youth international Youssef Enríquez adds a little more quality at left-back from Juvenil A, but has awfully big boots to fill. David Ruiz comes in from the C team to be his back-up. This defence is so poor, that it is scary to think about how the team are going to keep goals out. The more talented players such as Jacobo Ramón and Edgar Pujol are going to have to seriously step up to survive. Castilla added no external talent to the worst defence I had seen from the team, with the better players leaving for pastures new. Dream target Juanma Herzog has been promoted to the Las Palmas first team on a full-time basis, but is yet to play a minute this season. Antonio Espigares is playing third tier football as Villarreal B got relegated last term. Arnau Casas got a move to Dutch second tier side SC Cambuur for cheap. Left-back Mario García is yet to start for Racing Santander so far. None of these targets, or any others were even looked at by Real Madrid – creating a massive cause for concern.

Midfielders

Players Out: Mario Martín (Real Valladolid, Loan), Theo Zidane (Córdoba, £0), David González (Burgos, £0), Nico Paz (Como, £6M)

Players In: Chema Andrés, Hugo de Llanos and Antonio David (U19s)

The midfield is one of the most important areas for Castilla, with multiple players going on to become some of the best in the world after progressing through the reserve side. This summer, it has been totally neglected. As usual, the best players have found excellent moves (see above), with Nico Paz bringing in some much needed funds. The only players brought in however, are from the under-19s. Chema Andrés and Hugo de Llanos have talent, but little experience. Spanish anchor Mahamadou Susoho had played in the Champions League, and started all pre-season for Manchester City, yet ended up at English third tier side Peterborough United. Surely this was realistic if Madrid wanted to show any interest in reinforcing Castilla… The cheaper option in Rodrigo Mendoza continues to play with Elche. With Paz gone, the biggest position of all needed to be addressed. Ayman Aourir was never considered despite still lingering around the Bayer Leverkusen academy looking for an opportunity. It looked like the biggest miracle of all might occur when Reinier Jesus was dumped with Castilla all summer, attending every training session and scoring in nearly every fixture. That was until the final day, when the perfect new golden boy candidate was instead loaned out to Granada despite no financial incentive offered by the second division outfit. Add the César Palacios long term injury to the fold, and this number of players left is just unsustainable at third division level. Nonetheless, the decision to make Manuel Ángel the new captain is a good one.

Forwards

Players Out: Iker Bravo (Bayer Leverkusen, End of Loan), Álvaro Rodríguez (Getafe, Loan), Noel López (Osasuna B, Loan), Esteban Aparicio (Alcorcón, £0)

Players In: Loren Zúñiga, Andrés Campos and Borja Alonso (C)

Neither Iker Bravo or Noel López will be missed at all, but Álvaro Rodríguez will prove to be a huge loss after hitting double figures last season. Loren Zúñiga is one of the few good additions from the lower teams, and had a good pre-season with Castilla. Wingers Andrés Campos and Borja Alonso aren’t even worth talking about, however. If Jeremy de León can’t start in this team, and so far it seems he cannot – then what is he doing here? Ismaël Gharbi was always just a dream, and this was proven with him joining Braga on the final day. However, he moved to the Portuguese giants on a free transfer even with time left on his contract, meaning that a lucrative bid may have swayed PSG… Chris Lokesa was far more realistic, though – and continues to play in the Eredivisie for RKC Waalwijk. Up-front, Nacho Ferri joined Belgian top division side KV Kortrijk on loan early on in the window, and Eliezer Mayenda managed to turned things around at Sunderland after scoring a brace in the opening Championship game. The only outfield player linked to Castilla, Rachad Fettal never came. At this point, I’d even take former third choice Esteban Aparicio back…

The conclusion that Real Madrid have turned their attention far away from the academy due to a mix of factors including the threat of successful externally purchased young talent like Jude Bellingham, has never rung so true. I initially predicted that minimal academy promotions and no external signings to replace and replenish the departure of key players and coaches would be a nightmare, and here we are. This outcome truly is a disaster for Castilla. It is only the second summer where the club have given the manager no support, and no new signings whatsoever, with the first being last summer. The end of the transfer window, and the confirmation of what is likely the worst Castilla squad of all time is the final nail in the coffin of Castilla as a current project. The team has started the season now, and they already recorded their first two defeats against newly promoted side Marbella, and Ibiza – leaving them second bottom in the table. With five (!) teams directly relegated from this league group, I just do not see five inferior teams on a first glance at the table… Therefore, I predict that Castilla will finish in 16th place by the end of the campaign, and be relegated to the fourth division. I pray they prove me wrong. Hopefully, this neglect only lasts for a short period – but for now, we just have to hold on and hope for the best. The threat of relegation to the fourth tier has never been more real, and until January at least – Raúl and these players are on their own. Just look at the squad below, and jus how lacking it is in every area. For just a few million euros, it could have been so different…

Season Prediction: 16th place in the third division, relegated.