Real Madrid’s winter window was, as usual, fairly quiet.
Los Blancos appear in good shape this January, having won the Spanish Supercopa and moved above Barcelona to the top of LaLiga.
In the market, Madrid looked to the future with the signing of 18-year-old Brazilian midfielder Reinier Jesus from Flamengo in a €30million deal.
The Brazilian is considered to be among the world’s most exciting youngsters and has already won the Copa Libertadores. He should be an excellent addition.
Just 19, Villarreal B midfielder Ivan Morante also arrived and time will tell whether the Spanish Under-19 international can live up to his early potential.
Winger Hugo Vallejo, 19, comes in from Malaga in a €300,000 deal and goes straight to Deportivo La Coruna on loan, while striker Marc Gual has joined from Girona to help solve a problem in attack for Madrid’s youth side, Castilla.
It will be hoped that Morante and Vallejo can eventually progress to the first team despite huge competition for places, but Gual is already 23 and seems unlikely to step up.
Meanwhile, right-back Alvaro Odriozola has gone on loan to Bayern Munich in search of playing time and that looks like a sensible decision for the Spanish international, who has not featured for Real since October.
Centre-back Jesus Vallejo gets six months at Granada after limited opportunities at Wolves in the first half of the season, and goalkeeper Andriy Lunin joins Oviedo after playing just two cup games with Valladolid.
On deadline day, much of the talk was about Gareth Bale and a possible exit for the Welsh winger, especially when he was left out of Madrid’s squad for Saturday’s derby, but the 30-year-old will be staying until the summer and will probably be useful until then too – even if he is much less important than he once was at Real.
