Why Successors Succeed At Real Madrid

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid is a big question, as the club is one of the biggest clubs of the days of yore and it continues to maintain the high stand in the modern era. How do they do it ?

In the illustrious halls of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the echoes of past glories reverberate, but it’s not just the legends of yesteryears that make the club shine; it’s also the seamless transition of player successors that keeps the Madridista spirit alive.

Of course it is not the only club that dominated the previous era. Alongside Ajax, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, AC Milan, Celtic, and a few others, they dominated European football earlier on and set the tune for others to follow.

Many others have been long gone from memories. The likes of Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Benfica and a few others have won the prestigious UEFA Champions League in the past, and because their days of glory have become a thing of history due to the evolution of the beautiful game.

Nottingham Forest recently returned to top-flight football while even players today at clubs like of Steaua Bucuresti, Red Star Belgrade, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord and Hamburg will wonder how they were at a time considered European Champions.

However, for Real Madrid, even when everything around them crumbled, they’re never really out of lights amidst a flood.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid

From the days of Alfredo Di Stefano, to that of Raul Gonzalez, to the era of Cristiano Ronaldo, and now into a new dawn, the question begs: What’s the secret behind Real Madrid’s knack for grooming and integrating player successors so effectively ?

While relaxing on a Friday evening, I stumbled on the response of Ivan Rakitic in an interview about the situation of Barcelona, which he likened to that of Real Madrid, and how effectively Los Blancos have managed the situation.

“Real Madrid have done everything well, little by little. Modric and Kroos are still there leading the team. Maybe Barcelona have gone too fast.” Rakitic said, admitting that Real Madrid has done better in managing transition.

“I’m convinced Gavi and Pedri are going to be the future of Barcelona and Spanish football, but I think that help from us – the old people, as they have called us – would have been good for them. I’m convinced that all those kids like Bellingham and company greatly appreciate the daily learning they have with Luka and Toni.”

Real Madrid has made itself a leading example even for their rivals due to how well it manages transition. But the club had to learn the lesson the hard way before the adoption of a process that is getting it right.

After the end of the Galacticos of 2000 to 2004, the club endured a period of succcess drought due to the departure of some of the big name players in the Spanish capital.

After beating Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final, Real Madrid hit a decline in the competition, though they did reach the semi-finals in the following season, where they lost out to Juventus.

The decline became more obvious after their quarter final elimination in 2004 and for the six straight seasons that followed, they would not make it past the round of 16 in the competition.

Although they did manage to win the LaLiga title in 2003-04, the decline after the 2002 season was telling, and the club sought a way out of it.

The arrival of Florentino Perez and a threatening new century

A couple of years after it was named the club of the 20th century, Real Madrid found itself hitting the downward curve, and Florentino Perez, who won the presidential election in 2000 appeared to have failed even after a promising start.

Perez defeated incumbent president Lorenzo Sanz at that time as fans bought his promise to bring superstar Luis Figo from Barcelona, whilst he also exposed the financial mismanagement by Sanz’s administration.

Figo did arrive as Florentino Perez kept his promise but after a good start to the process of signing a superstar per summer, which saw Ronaldo arrive in 2002, David Beckham in 2003, and Michael Owen in 2004, it started to fail again.

Maybe because of the aging of their Galacticos, or others who failed to live up to expectations like David Beckham and a few others, Real Madrid had to part ways with them and abandon the Galacticos style.

Feeling defeated, Perez stepped down as the president of Real Madrid in 2006 but returned less than three years later, emerging winner without an opponent as he was the only aspirant able to provide the €57,389,000 guarantee necessary to run for the position.

The second-term of Florentino Perez as Real Madrid president

The arrival of new Galacticos

The summer of 2009, saw the arrival of the best players in the world at Real Madrid as the club spent a fortune in a bid to reclaim their lost crown.

Though many clubs dominated in the wake of the struggles of Real Madrid early in the century, none was able to really hold on to the dominance and only AC Milan and Barcelona managed to win two UEFA Champions League titles between 2003 and 2009.

The period of Perez’s return as Real Madrid president also coincided with the emergence of Barcelona’s goated generation, fresh from winning the treble by beating Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United in the Champions League final.

Real Madrid had to spend a lot to be able to match the strength of Barcelona. That saw them sign Cristiano Ronaldo in a world record move for £80 million. His arrival in Spain also sparkled an all-time rivalry with Lionel Messi as the duo went on to dominate the game for more than a decade.

The Portuguese was the current Ballon d’or holder at the time, and he was also joined by the man he dethroned as the world’s best player, Kakà, with the Brazilian also joining in a £56 million move from AC Milan.

Karim Benzema showed promise with Lyon and was also snapped up as a 21-year-old in a move amounting to £35.1 million, including some extra clauses that was later activated after more than a decade since he joined Real Madrid.

Esteban Granero, Xabi Alonso, Raul Albiol, and Alvaro Abeloa all joined Real Madrid ahead of the 2009-10 season, and a mass exodus of aging and fringe players followed suit.

The major decision that continues to preserve the greatness and relevance of Real Madrid was made that summer, as despite the number of superstar attackers that came in, and the younger ones at the club, Raul Gonzalez was retained.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid

In the 2009 summer when a set of Galacticos was signed by Florentino Perez to get started his second stint as the club’s president, there was a host of departures, but the club employed wisdom laying off players.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben were all released but the club retained Raul Gonzalez, a much older, much experience player and a figure that epitomised the culture of the club.

Maria Guti and Rafael van der Vaart were the other notable players to remain at the club in positions the club had strengthened in the same summer.

A strategy that works answers the question of Why successors succeed at Real Madrid

Even though it was too soon to challenge Barcelona at the time, it was obvious Real Madrid had become great again, after all, great players make great clubs.

At the time, it was more about the players than the club. Real Madrid had no choice as it had to start from somewhere. Even if it was by depending on the individual recognition and brilliance, Florentino Perez was all in for that.

But for a start, the players had to understand the culture of excellence ingrained within the club’s DNA. Real Madrid isn’t just a football team, but as well an institution that demands nothing but the best from its players, both on and off the pitch.

It had to reduce its reliance on the Academy and focus more on Galacticos, because of the quality of competitors, and their own fall from grace amidst adoption of that approach.

Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil and Luka Modric all also joined the club during a period which Brazilian maestro Kaka left the club and returned to Milan having endured an injury hit stint with the European giants.

The return of Real Madrid as European King

Sooner rather than later, they started showing up in the Champions League and reached back-to-back semi-finals before finally ending their 12-year wait for the title in 2014, when they defeated their city rivals Atletico 4-1 after extra time.

The club was in good shape and soon added Toni Kroos to a midfield that had Casemiro and Luka Modric and together they formed a trio that would go on to make history in the UEFA Champions League.

Gareth Bale had also joined ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League winning season, forming the infamous BBC trident in attack with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid continued to dominate the Champions League while also winning a couple of league titles. In 2014-15, they lost out in the semi-finals of the Champions League to Juventus, 3-2 on aggregate.

However, they went on to win the competition three-peat between 2015-16 and 2017-18, after which they parted ways with Cristiano Ronaldo, who has assumed the mantle of the greatest player in the club’s history.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid: Living with the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo‘s departure from Real Madrid was one not many saw coming. No proper goodbyes was said to the Madrismo till date. It came after the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and he never returned to the club as its player.

The Portuguese was the greatest contributor to the club’s European success, with his plentiful and vital goals. On nights when the Real Madrid was playing against the odds, he delivered them with his charismatic performances.

The night against Juventus in Turin as well as the return leg in Madrid in 2018. Remember his hat-trick in the Bernabeu to help overcome a 2-0 deficit against Wolfsburg in 2016.His five-goal performance over a two-legged quarter-final meeting with Bayern Munich, in 2017. All these and many more played crucial roles in the course of their three consecutive Champions League title success.

His departure left a big void in the team but Real Madrid were in no rush to make a marque signing as his replacement. Instead they signed an 18-year-old Vinicius Júnior from Flamengo, and 19-year-old Brahim Diaz from Manchester City.

Thibaut Courtios was the only big name arrival that summer while Mariano Diaz joined as a more readily available option in attack. Alvaro Odriozola was also snapped up from Real Sociedad.

New era : Why successors succeed at Real Madrid

The following summer, Eden Hazard was signed as the marque player to replace Cristiano Ronaldo but that has today ended up as the biggest transfer flop in the club’s history.

Injuries, poor physical state, and lack of form and fitness all played a role in the Belgian’s failure to replicate his sensational form displayed for more than half a decade at Chelsea.

The failure in managing the transition from one generation of attackers to the other left Real Madrid in the mud for a little while and in that period, they were humbled by Ajax right in the Bernabeu in the UEFA Champions League round of 16.

Nonetheless, that was no real failure as replacing a player like Cristiano Ronaldo is almost impossible. The fact that Real Madrid failed woefully in their first season without the Portuguese in the UEFA Champions League made them look exposed.

Players like James Rodriguez, Isco, Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata all came in before Ronaldo departed but many of them were outlived at the club by the former Manchester United, which made Real Madrid’s plan beforehand a failure.

The lesson was learnt for Real Madrid so they relied on young players like Vinicius Júnior, Marco Asensio and Rodrygo Goes alongside the best version of Karim Benzema, at a time Gareth Bale prefer Wales and doing golf.

The teenagers grew into the best versions of themselves in the company of the experienced players retained by the club.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid : Managing transition of midfield players

Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric made up the midfield trio for Real Madrid for years and before they outlived their prime, efforts had been put into finding successors for them. Federico Valverde and Edouardo Camavinga were already being integrated to the team before the departure of Casemiro hence his departure did not leave any real void.

Aurelien Tchouameni also arrived in the same summer Casemiro left and added to the options the club has. All learning from seasoned superstars in Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid : The secret behind Real Madrid’s successful succession

As pointed out by Ivan Rakitic, the guidance of experienced players can never be overemphasized. Young players will make mistakes and the pressure of playing for the biggest club in the world can make it worse.

This is no mystery and the way Real Madrid has managed transition is the real secret behind the success of their player successors.

With the defenders, Eder Militao had been around in the days of Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos and even though he could not displace them from the team, he got to learn the art from some of the best around.

Nacho Fernandez also benefited from learning from these beasts. David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger later arrived from the best teams in Europe, and as some of the best at what they do, and more importantly, for no cost whatsoever.

And just like that, the club has moved on from one generation of superstars to another.

Karim Benzema departed last summer but the club found another superstar in Jude Bellingham, although it had to fork out £100 million to sign him from Borussia Dortmund.

As the odds has it, Kylian Mbappé will arrive as a free agent, when his contract with PSG ends in the summer. From David Alaba to Antonio Rudiger, and now Kylian Mbappé, players who would have costed a fortune have signed for Real Madrid for free.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid

To present yourself as a dream club for the best players in the world is not only about history, but much more about how Real Madrid has made itself relevant over the years, till the present.

While Barcelona prefer to heavily rely on La Masia, it should also understand that the Academy can not consistently produce exciting names like those in their golden era.

But for Real Madrid, as the legacy continues and a new generation of stars take up the mantle, one thing is clear, greatness knows no age, and it will know no end if they continue to master transition management.

Why successors succeed at Real Madrid will always be a relevant question but the answer will not be farfetched. The glory, the hunger and the passion is always there, and is here to stay.

Attraction of ready-made players also answer the question of why player successors succeed at Real Madrid. Imagine a player like Kylian Mbappé eventually joining, that will make the club house around five of the ten best players in the world.

Jude Bellingham, and even the duo of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric are some three of the best midfielder in the world. While Edouardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde are not far behind.

Vinicius Júnior is up there amongst the best attackers and Rodrygo Goes is not without pedigree for his impact at the club. These players continue to provide answers to why successors succeed at Real Madrid.

Great players make great clubs and as many great ones dream of playing for the club, why successors succeed at Real Madrid will continue to have an obvious answer, and that is the competency in transition management.

Hassan Afolabi