Real Madrid lost out on €14 million after former academy star’s transfer fell off last summer | OneFootball

La Fabrica and Real Madrid Castilla serve as a stepping stone for young talents to break into the first team, but Los Blancos’ spending capacity and ability to bring in big names often force talents to leave.

Over the years, the Real Madrid academy has thus transformed into a factory producing talents for external clubs as the men in white pocket significant revenue from the resulting sales.

One such young player who left the club in recent years for greener pastures was Sergio Arribas. The talented attacking midfielder departed Real Madrid over two years ago, signing for Almeria for a fee of €6 million with €1 million in add-ons.

Real Madrid’s dismay

At the time of finalising Arribas’ exit, Real Madrid inserted a clause by which they retained 50% of the player’s rights and thus, half of any future transfer fee when the player leaves Almeria.

As relayed by AS in a recent report, Arribas was very close to making such a move last summer with Al Ahli from Saudi Arabia seriously interested in his signing.

What’s in store for Arribas’ future? (Photo by Rafa Babot/Getty Images)

The player was offered a salary of €10 million per season and Almeria would have received a staggering transfer fee of €28 million for the same.

Despite being very close to completing the deal, however, Arribas did not join the Middle East-based club as the transfer did not materialise. Real Madrid, who were entitled to €14 million of the €28 million, thus lost out on the significant sum.

While Real Madrid will not rue having lost out on the sum, it would have been a massive financial aid for them to have pocketed that sum. The Merengues will thus hope that the player continues to impress this season and attracts suitors for the upcoming window.