Alvaro Arbeloa betting big on two Real Madrid academy talents for the first team | OneFootball

One change at Real Madrid under Alvaro Arbeloa has been the newfound prominence of some of the academy’s bright young talents.

David Jimenez and Jorge Cestero were the first young stars to earn the manager’s trust and secure some minutes off the bench for Real Madrid, but the coach has now found two more pearls.

In the team’s win over Benfica earlier this week, Arbeloa handed minutes to Thiago Pitarch and Cesar Palacios. AS reveals that the duo are the next selected players to earn more prominence under the manager.

Thiago, Palacios big bets by Arbeloa

As confirmed by the Spanish outlet, the young duo are the bets of Alvaro Arbeloa who sees massive potential in them, potentially enough to be important in the first-team in the long haul.

Both players came on in the 84th minute of the game against Benfica, four minutes after Vinicius Jr, scored the winner on the night, and did not show any amount of fear on the field.

Arbeloa rates Cesar Palacios highly. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

They had 19 touches in total on the big stage, ten from Palacios and nine from Pitarch, and showed great confidence playing at the Santiago Bernabeu for the first time.

Pitarch, as an 18-year-old midfield talent, brings creativity and control to midfield – something Los Blancos have lacked since the departure of Toni Kroos and are looking for desperately on the market.

He is seen as one of the brightest young talents in La Fabrica, and his ability to play under pressure at just 18 years of age shows how high his ceiling is.

Palacios, meanwhile, is a more attack-minded midfielder who can also play higher up the field either as a winger or centre-forward, and has a good goal-scoring record to back him.

The Bernabeu, needless to say, should be familiar with their names and talents, for they will see a whole lot more of them in the remainder of the season.