It is a known fact that the Real Madrid academy is among the best on the planet, and for yet another year, La Fábrica provides Europe with players. The "CIES" has brought this truth to light once again. No one in all of Europe contributes more footballers to the five major leagues than the white club, according to one of the weekly studies of this Football Observatory. Real Madrid surpass Barça's 38 and Olympique Lyon's and PSG's 34 with their 43.

A set of criteria are established by the statistical center to count homegrown players. Similar to UEFA rules, which state that anyone, regardless of nationality, who has trained for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 with the club in question or another club from the same national federation qualifies as a "player from a country's academy." To put it another way, and to give some context, players like Vinicius, who did not turn 21 until July 12, 2021 and had already played three full seasons in the entity, fall within this quota.

At the moment, Real Madrid have five footballers eligible for CIES in the squad: Carvajal, Lucas, Nacho, Vinicius and Mariano.

The remaining 38 "Madridistas" play in the Big-5 leagues of Spain, England, Italy, Germany, and France. Many players immediately come to mind, with Morata (Atlético), Achraf (PSG), Marcos Llorente (Atlético), or Mayoral (Getafe) standing out as the most obvious names. Even so, the list is lengthy: Chust (Cádiz), Diego Llorente (Leeds), Mario Hermoso y Reguilón (Atlético), Oscar (Celta), etc.

Since 2009, Real Madrid have billed 375 million euros for footballers from La Fábrica. The last one, Mayoral and his 10 million from Getafe. The record, the 80 that Chelsea paid for Morata. Inter's 40 for Achraf or Tottenham's 30 for Reguilón, also notable. In times of famine, Valdebebas comes to the rescue.