Jose Mourinho calls up 16 academy players for first Real Madrid training session | OneFootball

Today, July 13th, could turn out to be a historic day for Real Madrid as the Spanish club started its new project, under the stewardship of the experienced coach, Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese coach welcomed the available players at Valdebebas, as these players underwent medical tests and participated in the first training sessions of the preseason.

Owing to the World Cup, only 8 first team players were available for training today, including Lunin, Trent, Asensio, Huijsen, Carreras, Camavinga, Mastantuono, and Gonzalo. Others are enjoying their vacations, that started belated because of the international tournament, while some are still fighting for the World Cup, whose semi-final stage is set to kick-off tomorrow, on Tuesday.

As a result, Mourinho had to fill in his ranks with academy players, and as Diario AS has reported, he called up 16 players from the youth academy for this start of preseason training.

Among these youngsters was Cesar Palacois, who is expected to leave Real Madrid to continue his growth this summer. Similarly, Joan Martinez, who is expected to make his debut with the first-team in the upcoming season, and Cestero, who has already accumulated 113 minutes with the first-team, were also called up. Other notable names included Fran González, Mestre, Valde, Lamini Fati, Lacosta, and Pol Fortuny.

There were also some players from the C team, including Cherif Fofana, Roberto Martin and Jacobo Ortega, who both starred in the victorious UEFA Youth League campaign last season. Lezcano, Melvin, Alexis Ciria, and Gabri Valero were called up from Juvenil A.

Thiago Pitarch, Yáñez, Diego Aguado, Jesus Fortea, Javi Navarro, and Mario Rivas were conspicuous by their absence in this session, but they are set to rejoin the team a bit late, as they were a part of the Spanish U-19 team that won U-19 European Championship this summer.

It remains to be seen which of these youngsters would be able to impress Jose Mourinho enough to retain their place in his squad as Real Madrid first-team players gradually join him after ending their vacations.