5 Youngsters with the Best Chance of Breaking Through at Real Madrid in 2015
Real Madrid is not the best place to be if you are a teenager hoping to break into the first team.
Fringe players like Javier Hernandez, Asier Illarramendi and even Sami Khedira at the moment are finding it hard enough to gain a place in Carlo Ancelotti's increasingly consistent starting lineups.
However, that's not to say the club aren't keen on bringing through their own players.
Iker Casillas is the only player to have become a star from the academy in recent years, while full-backs Alvaro Arbeloa and Dani Carvajal have both left and come back.
At the moment, a lot of faith is being placed in Jese Rodriguez to be the next homegrown sensation.
However there are other players filtering through the club's world class youth academy, La Fabrica.
Over the following slides, BR take a look at five of the Real Madrid youngsters with the best chance of breaking through over the next 12 months.
Jose Rodriguez
1 of 5
Jose Mourinho was a big fan of young midfielder Jose Rodriguez.
Back in 2012, when the Portuguese was still relatively happy in the Spanish capital, he began to hand minutes to the player, who was 17 at the time.
He played in games against Alcorcon in the Copa del Rey, Atletico Madrid in La Liga and Ajax in the Champions League—becoming the youngest player to ever represent Madrid in the competition.
Now 20, he's on loan at Deportivo de La Coruna and experiencing regular first team football.
He has made 15 appearances in Spain's top flight this season, with 10 of them coming as a starter, and will be hoping to return to Madrid in the summer.
It's not yet clear if Carlo Ancelotti likes the rangy Rodriguez as much as Mourinho, though.
The Italian hasn't seemed as smitten in his 18 months in charge and it will be interesting to see what he has in store when the player returns from his loan spell.
Alvaro Medran
2 of 5
It's clear that Carlo Ancelotti is a fan of Alvaro Medran—no other Real Madrid Castilla player has featured more than the 20-year-old this season.
Medran has played twice in the league, twice in the cup and once in the Champions League, coming on as a substitute to score in the win over Razgrad Luogorets before Christmas.
On top of that, he's been regularly involved with the first team as an unused substitute.
He's a midfield player who likes to get on the ball, but it has been apparent in his fleeting appearances that he still lacks the muscle to make too much of an impression in the first team.
The player himself, and Ancelotti, will presumably be aware of that, and if he can bulk up by the start of next season, he could be used even more frequently.
Diego Llorente
3 of 5
Nacho Fernandez is certainly a useful member of Carlo Ancelotti's first team squad.
The 24-year-old is adept at covering any position across the back four—he has played as a right-back, a left-back and a centre-back for Los Blancos.
However, his versatility shouldn't be a reason for keeping him at the club.
Madrid need quality and, now in his mid-20s, Nacho needs games.
Ancelotti may be better served offering a younger player Nacho's minutes and seeing if they have the class to survive at a club as big as Madrid.
Diego Llorente, 21, could be an option.
He played the second half of the Copa del Rey win against UE Cornella at the Bernabeu and was an unused substitute in the win over Levante earlier this season.
Other options: Derik Osede, Jaime Sanchez
nb. no photo of Llorente was available
Marcos Llorente
4 of 5
If football was definitely in your genes, Marcos Llorente would already be penciled in as a future Real Madrid star.
Not only is he the great nephew of club legend and six-time European Cup winner Paco Gento, but his father, Paco Llorente, played over 100 games for Madrid and his grandfather, Ramon Grosso, played nearly 300 games for the club in the 60s and 70s.
Unfortunately it doesn't quite work like that, but Llorente may still prove his worth at the club.
The 19-year-old joined the club on their tour of America in the Summer and Marca's Pablo Polo reported that Carlo Ancelotti was very impressed.
He's featured regularly for Zidane's Castilla side this season and comparisons have been made with Xabi Alonso—which is just the type of player Madrid may be looking for in the future.
Javier Munoz
5 of 5
A regular in Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid Castilla side, Javier Munoz has seemingly caught the eye of Carlo Ancelotti as well.
The 19-year-old attacking midfielder came off the bench in the Copa del Rey second leg win against UE Cornella.
Technically he is very good and he is particularly effective in the final third, whether that is through late runs into the box or killer passes for his teammates.
Other young attacking midfielders/forwards: Cristian Benavente, Raul de Tomas, Jack Harper
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