It’s possible. That’s the message. It will be very difficult, so difficult that at times it seems impossible. That feeling is inevitable. But this may be the moment when the door to the first team has been wider open than it has been in a long time. Even if it’s only slightly more open, it’s still more than before.
There are opportunities, and some of them are significant. David Jiménez starting at Mestalla. Cestero overtaking Ceballos. Well-considered decisions that send a clear message to the youth teams: it’s possible.
There’s also a self-critical message in all of this. When you call on the academy, it responds. David Jiménez’s performance at Mestalla is proof. It was his first start in La Liga, after opening in the Copa del Rey against Talavera and Albacete.
The numbers support it. In attack, he ranked second for crosses (3) and came close to scoring with a point-blank shot that Dimitrievski pushed away. He got forward, but he defended too: three recoveries and a 97% pass completion rate, helping the build-up calmly, with 100% accuracy in the opponent’s half. An outstanding performance for someone who had only played 168 minutes with the first team.
He delivered. He impressed. He rose to the occasion. And in doing so, he reinforced the sense that this is a good moment to take the leap and try. The gap between the first team and the reserves, right now, does not feel as wide as it did a few years ago. Arbeloa defended the academy in his press conference and, although there has been a run of matches with too much theory and not enough practice, against Rayo Vallecano for example no outfield academy player was called up, the overall trend is positive.
“This is the best youth academy in the world… the players know they have a great opportunity, that the first-team coach knows them better than anyone, and that I’m counting on them; they also know the demands of Real Madrid,” Arbeloa said at his presentation.
Just four days after his arrival, in his first match at the Bernabéu, came the first surprise: Leiva was called up. That level of involvement has not been as common since, but there have been other cases.
Take the other name on the list. He has now started three matches ahead of Ceballos. The first was against Albacete, when Cestero was in the XI because of the absence of key players, with Tchouaméni and Bellingham staying in Madrid. The decision went further. In the 86th minute, with the score at 2-2, he was substituted, and his place went to Manuel Ángel. Ceballos did not play. The same pattern followed in Lisbon, where Cestero came on in the 89th minute for Güler at 3-2, and again last Sunday at Mestalla in the 92nd minute.
Another debut that feels like a matter of time is Thiago Pitarch’s. The real surprise is that it has not happened yet. He has been called up to the first team eleven times, including for the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, but has not played a single minute. The Castilla midfielder continues to shine. Last week he scored a spectacular goal in the knockout win over Marseille in the Youth League. His touch is different, top level. His long-awaited opportunity feels inevitable.
There are more names waiting. One of the most prominent is Joan Martínez, the diamond once destined, and still destined despite a few reprimands, for the first team. He is eager for an opportunity like the one Valdepeñas had in Vitoria or Palacios in Albacete. Fortea, Diego Aguado and Pol Fortuny are waiting too, along with many others. We are seeing academy players at Real Madrid, and they are delivering.
The latest example is David Jiménez, a starter at Mestalla. Arbeloa could have kept Valverde in defence, but he trusted number 35. A decision that has put La Fábrica on alert. It will be very difficult, so difficult that at times it seems impossible. That feeling is inevitable. But reaching the first team is possible.