Pablo Sarabia Joins Getafe: The Complete Story

Pablo Sarabia is considered to be one of the most talented and promising players in Real Madrid's youth ranks. He is so highly-regarded that scouts from all over Europe attended several Castilla games this season to watch him play.

Clubs such as Arsenal, Benfica, Braga, Barcelona, Manchester United and many more were keeping a close eye on him. His agent had admitted that Arsenal, along with a couple of Italian outfits, had expressed an interest, and that Real Madrid were aware of that, but he later stated that Sarabia wants to triumph at Madrid.

Pablo joined La Fabrica as a 13-year-old in 2004, moving up through the youth ranks over the years, until he made his professional debut in the Segunda B against Alcorcon with Real Madrid Castilla in 2009. He improved immensely under Alberto Toril who was promoted from Juvenil A's coach to Castilla's in the second half of the 2010-2011 season.

With Castilla, Sarabia made 49 appearances and scored 15 goals. He made his first-team debut last season in a 4-0 win over Auxerre at the Bernabeu in the group stages of the Champions League after coming on for Cristiano Ronaldo. On his debut, he looked comfortable, didn't get lost chasing the ball or forget orders and also showed some great passing and dribbling abilities, all signs of his maturity despite only being a teenager with very little high-level experience.

On Sunday, July 3, Real Madrid officially announced the departure of Pablo Sarabia. In a brief statement, the official announcement reports that an agreement has been reached with Getafe, reserving the right to buy him back:

Real Madrid C. F. and Getafe C. F. have reached an agreement for the transfer of RM Castilla player Pablo Sarabia. Real Madrid CF reserves the right to repurchase the footballer.

Sarabia had a contract with Real Madrid until the summer of 2013; however Real Madrid cashed in on him for a reported €3 million, also inserting a buy-back clause in the deal. The buy-back clause can only be activated after he completes 2 years of his 5-year-contract with Getafe.

There's a lot that can be written on the complexity of the issue of non-usage of Real's cantera graduates, but most of the problem primarily lies at the doorstep of Florentino Perez and his over-the-top 'I know it all' tendency.

Also, Mourinho is under pressure to deliver and taking risks with youngsters is certainly not included in his plans. No matter how hard he tries to make fans think he cares about developing our youngsters, he doesn't, which is unfortunate because this generation of La Fabrica players is the best in years, and I, along with many other Madridistas, would hate to see what happened to Mata and Parejo happen to them.

However, I don’t think this will be the case with Sarabia. In recent years, we've had De La Red, Granero and Parejo leave to Getafe and come back at a later date, under similar circumstances to Sarabia's move. De La Red and Granero were able to make it back and Sarabia will be hoping to do the same.

With Getafe, Sarabia will get plenty of playing time in the Primera. This will give him the opportunity and time to fully develop. He has all the raw talent and ability. Playing regularly at such a high level will aid him by providing him the confidence and experience he needs. Hopefully, he will impress Perez and Mourinho (or whoever is the manager when Sarabia starts dazzling), and we’ll see him wearing the white shirt again.

Good luck, Pablo!

Mesut Ozil's Signing Might Make Dani Parejo's Return Improbabale

Mesut Ozil

If reports in AS are to be believed then Mesut Ozil will be the first signing of Real Madrid next season (2011-12), who'll join for free after seeing off the last year in his contract with Werder Bremen.

21 year old Mesut Ozil caught the eye of many big clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea with amazing performances in the World Cup. Although Mesut Ozil can't talk with any teams before January 1, 2011, in Germany it is believed that Real Madrid are the front runners in the signing of Ozil.

Mesut Ozil is a good player and would be a good addition to the club and all but what would happen to the playmaker from the academy who plays with Getafe and just turned 21 in April—Dani Parejo?

Even withouht Mesut Ozil, Real Madrid have 3 playmakers—Kaka, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Sergio Canales, and that makes it really difficult for all of the players to get enough playing time. Lets take for granted that Rafael Van Der Vaart will leave next summer and Mesut Ozil will join, it still doesn't make it any better for Parejo.

Dani Parejo

Dani Parejo's immensly taleneted and it isn't every day that Alfredo Di Stefano calls some Canterano his favorite, last season should not be used to judge Parejo's quality as Parejo was mostly travelling with Spain U-21 and missed a lot of games for Getafe. Despite being away so much Dani Parejo started 16 games and made cameos in 12, scored 6 and assisted 4.

Dani Parejo has been impressive in Getafe's pre-season so far and will be much more regular with Getafe this season. With Getafe qualifying for Europa League last season, it will be a good platform for Dani Parejo to prove his quality, and I'm pretty sure Dani Parejo will be up for the challenge.

It's not that I don't like Mesut Ozil or I doubt his quality, it's just that I would love to see more Canteranos being given the chance, Real Madrid produce a LOT of talent, and it would be nice to see them in action FOR Real Madrid not AGAINST them. I would like to see Dani Parejo come back rather than Mesut Ozil signing for the club. Hala Madrid!

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Note: I hope you like the Opinion+News Update post. I find it rather un-interesting to just write a news piece, would definitely love the feedback.

Pedro Leon's Signing Is Just What Was Needed

I'm a little late due to some personal issues but here is the Pedro Leon post that I promised.

Last season whenever we looked at the bench to change the flow of the game, we had an old Raul, two out of these three holding midfielders—Lass, Mahamadou or Gago, a low on confidence Granero, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Guti and Benzema.

Out of these Guti, Benzema and Rafael Van Der Vaart were the players who could change a game while making an appearance from the bench.

Kaka remained injured for long stretches, Benzema got injured too. And to replace the injured Kaka either Guti or Van Der Vaart started the game, which meant further reduction of bench strength, attacking wise. All that we are left with was 2 holding midfielders, an unconfident Granero and Raul (despite the captain having passion, you still can't call him a player who can change the game).

It really doesn't help when the best options on the bench are defensive players as I've never seen a team chasing a game win by bringing on defensive players, and that's why I think Pedro Leon's signing is just what was needed! We now have a player that can turn around games, is two footed, can play on both the flanks & the center, has the passion and the drive to succeed, is also a proven performer in the Spanish league and at the age of 23, he has many years left in him.

Pedro Leon signed with Getafe last season from Valladolid and helped them finish sixth in the league and qualify for the Europa League with 8 goals and 9 assists, and was hands down their best player.

Although it is expected that he will be a bench player, it wouldn't surprise me if Pedro Leon would fight his way in the starting 11 and with the rumors about Kaka requiring surgery, it is quite possible that he might get his opportunity early! Bienvenido Pedro! Hala Madrid!

I really don't dig the music in this video, but it's a good compilation of what Pedro Leon can do:

Real Madrid Cantera Update: Daniel Opare & Pedro Mosquera Bid Farewell

It's been a very long time since I last posted a Cantera Update, these should be frequent this time around. It's really tough to give a decent build-up to such kind of posts, from the next time around, it'll be straight to the news.

News that is pretty old, which I won't cover in this segment is that the Real Madrid Juvenil A lost the finals of the Copa del Ray against Athletic Bilbao's U-19 team, The Juvenil A were chasing the treble after winning the European competition and the league.


» Pedro Mosquera Signs For Getafe

22 year old Pedro Mosquera has officially signed for Getafe, the Real Madrid Castilla captain Mosquera debuted for the Real Madrid first team at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez in a 4-2 victory over Getafe last season. The details of the transfer haven't yet been released and only Getafe's official site has confirmation of the transfer. Mosquera will be presented at Getafe on 13 July.

It's not official but the reason of the deal might be the signing of Pedro Leon. In an interview published on both AS & Marca according to the Getafe manager—Michel, the signing of €7 million man (more like €10 million but Getafe owe €3 million to Real Madrid due to Roberto Soldado's signing with Valencia)—Pedro Leon has been completed by Real Madrid pending the decision of Jose Mourinho. Nowhere has it been written that Pedro Mosquera is part of the Pedro Leon deal, I'm just connecting the dots.

Source: Getafe CF Official Site (Mosquera's presentation announcement), AS (Michel's interview regarding Pedro Leon), Marca (Michel's interview regarding Pedro Leon)

» Daniel Opare Signs For Standard Liege

One of the most versatile players of the academy—Daniel Opare(19) has left the Castilla to sign for Standard Liege in Belgium. According to Castilla's coach—Allejandro Menendez, Opare was a great talent but just couldn't settle here in Spain. Opare debuted for the Ghanaian national team at the age of 17.

Source: Standard Liege Official Site (French)

» Daniel Carvajal Offered Promotion & New Contract

Daniel Carvajal, another pearl of the academy has signed a contract till 2014 with the club. Daniel Carvajal is a tremendous right-back and was an important part of the double winning Juvenil A. He has also featured with the La Rojita (U-16, U-17) and will feature with the U-19 team in the summer as well. After his brilliant performances with the Juvenil A last season, Carvajal has been promoted to the Real Madrid Castilla, and might feature in the first team training sessions and on the bench next season.

Source: Defensa Central

» Jesus Fernandez Signs For The Castilla

Real Madrid Castilla are strengthening their squad before the new season, and in the process, they have signed 20 year old goalkeeper—Jesus Fernandez from Numancia. I couldn't find any information on Jesus Fernandez, or about how good he is. We'll have to wait for the pre-season friendlies to see what actually he can do.

Source: Defensa Central

More on the wonderful academy of Real Madrid next week (hopefully)! Hala Madrid!