This month alone, the side from the Spanish capital have snapped up prodigious young talents Martin Odegaard of Norway and Lucas Silva of Brazil for a combined £12.5 million. And rumours suggest they aren't finished there, either.
A report in Monday's edition of Madrid-mad Marca claims the reigning European champions are preparing a move for highly-rated Athletic (don't call them Bilbao) defender Aymeric Laporte. The France Under-21 international is also said to be a target for Manchester United and Chelsea, but the good news for Los Blancos is that Laporte has already told FFT he doesn't seem himself playing in England just yet.
What do Odegaard, Lucas Silva and Laporte all have in common? Why, they all starred in FourFourTwo's list of the 23 hottest young talents under 23, as featured in our February issue, out now.
Could it be that Real Madrid, having grown tired of paying eye-watering fees to bring 'Galacticos' to the Bernabeu, are using FourFourTwo as their guide to the January transfer window?
If our slightly self-interested hunch is correct, it could be bad news for the people of Merseyside. Both Liverpool's Raheem Sterling and Everton's Ross Barkley also feature in our list. Could they be Madrid's next targets? Will Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj also be heading to Madrid? Paul Pogba? Mario Gotze...?
INTERVIEW Aymeric Laporte on life in Bilbao and his future
TALENTSPOTTER Who is Martin Odegaard?
INTERVIEW Ten things you need to know about Lucas Silva
Find out more about FFT's 23 Under 23 in the February 2015 issue of FourFourTwo, featuring exclusive chats with Aymeric Laporte, Ross Barkley, Mario Gotze, Koke, Antoine Griezmann, Marco Verratti, Marquinhos and Ryan Gauld. Plus, we speak to Slaven Bilic and go One-on-One with Alan Shearer.
