9 forgotten Real Madrid academy graduates who became cult heroes elsewhere

Real Madrid have produced plenty of world-class players over the years, although not all of them make the grade at the Bernabeu.

For every Raul or Iker Casillas, there are countless examples of other Madrid academy graduates who forge a career for themselves elsewhere.

We’ve looked through the players Madrid have produced in the past and have found nine of them who became cult heroes elsewhere.

Juan Mata

Mata was thrust into the limelight at Valencia, but it was Real Madrid who spotted his talents way back in 2003.

The Spanish midfielder spent the 2006–07 season with Real Madrid Castilla where he scored nine goals in 39 appearances.

El Confidencial leaked a tape from 2009 where Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is quoted blasting former Madrid legend, Michel, as he claimed he was responsible for letting Mata slip through the cracks of their academy.

Perez claimed: “I think Michel is the one who made the hole for Mata [to leave], he is the one who threw him out of Real Madrid Castilla to put his son in the team.”

After shining at Valencia, Chelsea and Manchester United (sort of), we’re in full agreement with Perez on this occasion.

Marcos Llorente

Madrid-born and bred, Llorente has spent the vast majority of his senior career impressing in his hometown aside from a loan to Alaves.

Not for Real, though. For Atletico.

Los Rojiblancos struck a deal for the midfielder worth around £35million back in 2019 and he’s been a part of Diego Simeone’s army ever since and can often be found in the Champions League last 16 being a thorn in somebody’s side.

The 29-year-old was key as Atleti won La Liga in 2020-21 and has played 15 times in this season’s title charge too.

Juanfran

Juanfran racked up over 350 appearances for Atletico, but he actually started out with local rivals Real Madrid.

The defender progressed through their youth ranks and made his first-team debut in January 2004.

He went on to make 11 first-team appearances before leaving the club in 2005. It’s probably fair to say that he doesn’t regret his decision one single iota.

Dani Parejo

Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano described a teenage Parejo as “the best talent in La Fabrica (Madrid’s academy), a terrific player, a phenomenon.” That was always going to be tough to live up to.

The Spanish midfielder only featured in five first-team matches before he was shipped out to Getafe in 2009.

The 35-year-old has had a stellar career in Spain, making more than 700 career appearances, and is most adored by fans of Valencia and Villarreal.

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Marcos Alonso

Madrid-born Alonso joined the Real Madrid youth ranks as a child and made one senior appearance for the club before joining Bolton Wanderers in 2010-11.

“It was complicated at first,” Alonso said in a later interview. “After doing the trial a little reluctantly, they [Madrid] called me to join. My parents were laughing.

“In the end, Real was the best for my development. I was there for many years. I grew as a person and a player – I can’t say I didn’t.”

The defender is best remembered for his successful time at Chelsea, where Alonso scored goals regularly and lifted a significant number of trophies. He’s now playing for Celta Vigo.

QUIZ: Can you name every player Real Madrid have sold to the Premier League?

Pablo Sarabia

Despite starting out at Real, flourishing in Seville and then spending four years in Paris, it feels like only now are we truly beginning to see Sarabia reach his potential, at the age of 32.

It’s taken him a while to reach the Premier League, but he finally did so when joining Wolves in January 2023 for a cut-price fee.

An intelligent and technically astute winger, he feels like a player who will only get better with age. Wolves will need him to shine in their current relegation battle.

Emiliano Buendia

Aston Villa starlet Buendia spent one year with the Madrid academy back in 2009.

Things didn’t quite pan out for the Argentine in Madrid but he was soon snapped up by Getafe where he would go on to make his professional debut.

The winger left Argentina as a teenager to pursue a career in Europe and despite his early rejection from Real Madrid, he made it in the end and has even been capped by his country.

Philipp Lienhart

A lesser-known name unless you own a tote bag and a MUNDIAL subscription, Lienhart started out at Rapid Wien but joined La Fabrica as a teenager in 2014 and wound up playing regular reserve team football with Real Madrid Castilla under Zinedine Zidane.

The Austrian was never really given a chance to break through at Real and probably needed to leave in order to develop given the players ahead of him in the mid-to-late 2010s, and joined Freiburg in 2017.

He’s been in the Bundesliga ever since and can now be considered one of the best defenders in the division.

Lienhart has been capped 29 times for Austria and has been a consistent force for a Freiburg side who have regularly qualified for European competition.

Borja Mayoral

Mayoral was in the Real Madrid system for 15 years, but only made a total of 33 appearances for the club before he left in 2022.

He spent most of his time out on loan, but eventually left on a permanent basis to join Getafe a couple of years ago.

Having bagged 15 goals in La Liga last season, Jude Bellingham was the only Real Madrid player who outscored Mayoral in 2023-24.

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