Is this the Galacticos 2.0?: this scouting genius is tinkering with Real’s future

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With the transfer of Jude Bellingham (19), Real Madrid has secured the midfield for the coming years. With Eduardo Camavinga (20), Aurélien Tchouaméni (23) and Federico Valverde (24), the Englishman heralds a new era in the history of Los Blancos. The generation change in the team of the Spanish record champions is well advanced and a new white ballet must be created around the current and future stars Vinicius Junior (22) and Endrick (16).

The man behind this “Galacticos 2.0” is Jose Antonio Calafat de Souza (50), better known as June. The Brazilian has been Real’s chief scout since 2017 and is responsible for attracting the new, young stars. His achievements include the discoveries of Vinicius and Endrick, who both made their debut in the Brazilian professional league at the age of 16. Thanks to June, a new generation of “Galacticos” was able to form in Madrid. The Madrilenians could thus continue their dominance in the Champions League – half of the titles have gone to Madrid in the past ten years.

Mutual trust as a starting point

Calafat has optimized the transfer policy at Real, all forward-looking commitments of the past seven years go back to him. The Brazilian joined the Spanish record champions as a scout in 2014 and was promoted to head scout within three years. Born in Madrid, he spent many years in Brazil as a television commentator, where he came into contact with Brazilian football stars, Kaka and Ronaldo are among his friends.

His way of working is fundamental to signing young players. He tries to build a close relationship with the player environment long before signing. Mutual trust is a principle for Calafat. Thanks to his ability to build this and his Portuguese, he is often able to build a relationship with the super talents in Brazil before other top clubs and convince them to move to the Spanish capital. And the success of the Madrilenians speaks for itself.

Foreign juniors more successful

If you look at the transfer policy of the royal house in the past 25 years, it is striking that on average every 15 years there is an accumulation of young players. For example, the previous generation included Cristiano Ronaldo (24 at the time), Marcelo (18) or Sergio Ramos (19).

What is striking is that although players from their own youth made it to the first team – Iker Casillas, for example – they were often not that successful. That is in stark contrast to the talent factory of arch-rival Barcelona. In Catalonia, especially in the last 20 years, La Masia youth players have always been an important part of the first team.

With names like Xavi (43), Iniesta (39) and Carles Puyol (45), Barcelona formed the legendary golden generation in the national team, who became European champions in 2008 and 2012 and world champions in 2010, much more than Real Madrid.

Source : Blick