According to Spanish news site AS, Real Madrid has recently concluded ‘one of the most ambitious operations in recent years’ at La Fabrica which will see Alejandro Jimenez (or Alex Jimenez, as he is also called), the 17-year-old fullback, extend his development with the Los Blancos till the summer of 2027.
This deal is a huge positive for the newly crowned La Liga champions with their most highly rated academy player fending off interest from European clubs to extend his contract.
According to the report, Chelsea and Bayern Munich were the two European clubs keeping close tabs on the 17-year-old. Chelsea in particular were reportedly having a ‘strong interest’ in the Spanish fullback.
Real Madrid reportedly spent a long time negotiating the youngster’s contract extension and have now managed to offer him a contract until 2027. He has been playing two age levels over his bracket, and he is scheduled to join Real Castilla next season.
The Galacticos have now ‘locked doors’ to interested teams meaning, and for once Chelsea will have to look elsewhere for young talents who they can develop into Reece James’ of tomorrow. Chelsea is well-known for recruiting the most promising young players from across the world and developing them by loaning them out before selling them for a profit. However, there has been a recent shift in that pattern, with youngsters from the academy ranks being given a fair chance at first-team play at Stamford Bridge.
Indeed, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount, Reece James, and Trevoh Chalobah are great instances of academy players succeeding at Chelsea and they hope to continue this trend by bringing in more brilliant young players, with Jimenez surfacing as a possible target after a few years again.
AUTHOR’s OPINION:
The talent that Chelsea possesses compiled by the statute in place for the development of young faces, has been among the best in Europe to produce kids who have the capacity to take on world football – although, having said that, there have numerous examples of resources wasted where a kid with whizzing potential has seen nothing but a series of loans followed by a move to tier-two European leagues adding to another name in the long list of what could have been. Real Madrid, on the other hand, have produced wide talents but moreover, they don’t shy away from giving youngsters some minutes every now and then – especially if they have impressed playing in tier II with Castilla.
Looking at this from the outside, it seems a fair decision for Alex Jimenez to rather stay at Real Madrid than take a punt moving countries.
