Juan Mata (Chelsea), Javi Garcia (Manchester City), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) and Roberto Soldado (Valencia) are just a few big names that have come out of Real Madrid’s youth system without ever quite making it in the first team. La Marca notes that many teams in Spain have benefitted from Los Blancos’ youth system, as many of its youngsters, eager to prove themselves, sign with smaller clubs because the opportunities in Real’s first team are so few.

As a result, smaller teams “trawl Valdebebas” in search of young talent. In addition to Negredo, and Soldado, the following La Liga stars came from Real Madrid Castilla (the “B” team): JuanFran (Atletico Madrid), Miguel Torres, Adrian, Pablo Sarabia, Jordi Codina and Borja Fernandez (all Getafe), Daniel Parejo (Valencia), Diego López (Sevilla), Alberto Bueno (Valladolid), Fran Rico (Granada), and Riki (Deportivo).

Nowadays, more and more former Real Madrid Castilla players are packing their bags for other destinations in Europe. In the most recent example, Carvajal and Joselu, two of Real Castilla’s biggest names last season, moved on to Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, respectively, in the German Bundesliga.