El Clasico has always been marked by some of the greatest players to ever play the game, part of the game’s luster and appeal comes from seeing the best go against the best.

However, what isn’t always talked about so much are some of the truly amazing transfer deals the two giants have conducted over the years. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have plenty of skeletons in the transfer closet, more than a few million down the drain thanks to misguided lawsuits.

No club is perfect, but there are obviously some which are better, and above all more sensible, than others. That’s true across all divisions, it’s just that there’s naturally more of a microscope on the bigger clubs.

But we are beginning to get the impression that the two giants of Spanish and world football are beginning to move towards a more coherent strategy.

Let’s start with the league leaders and title favorites. Real’s last real transfer mistake was their decision to invest in a group of young Spanish players. The premise was solid, stocking the team with domestic players to help with team registration rules and using the long-term savings on their signings to add those few global superstars.

However, it didn’t really work. From summer 2015 to 2019, Real signed Kiko Casilla, Jesus Vallejo, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Omar Mascarell, Brahim Diaz and Alvaro Odriozola.

This is how the promotion or signing of young players like Achraf Hakimi, Dani Ceballos, Theo Hernandez, Mariano Diaz, Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente, Martin Odegaard, Sergio Reguilon, Oscar Rodriguez and Federico Valverde.

The only ones from this group who have made a permanent place in the first team are Asensio, Vazquez and Valverde. That’s not a good success rate.

The inherent problem is that at a club like Real, a lot of players of this stature will struggle to get playing time when you consider some of the big names in the starting lineup. The club didn’t seem to have a real plan or path for many of these players, and while that was good in terms of transfer fees, it didn’t benefit the first team.

Now, however, there seems to have been a change. It’s not quite full of Galaticos, but it’s not quite national either. It’s hard to describe. Perhaps the best term is “payments on payment”. What I mean by that is that Real are looking at players that they can buy young and spread the cost over several years, maybe even up to a decade. Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy and Eduardo Camavinga fit into this mould.

If they sign one of the following this summer, it’s the same principle: Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Aurélien Tchouameni, Reece James, Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, Moussa Diaby, etc. are all Real names. All represent fantastic long-term value due to the immense potential they both possess now and in the future. That old point is key, a lot of those young players have the ability to come in and play right away – that’s a key change.

The last big change is Real’s market manipulation. The foresight and planning that Real have shown over the past few summers is astounding. In 2019, they splurged and got it wrong. Eden Hazard (the biggest recent stain on the notebook), Luka Jovic and even Reinier didn’t work.

So Real withdrew, they bided their time. They didn’t add anyone in 2020, then last year they only brought in Camavinga and David Alaba. They knew they had a great chance to sign Alaba, so they waited and grabbed him for free. They may well do something similar this summer with Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger. As with Mbappe, the understanding of when players’ contracts expire and the realization that more and more players are willing to terminate their contracts is impressive. It’s something Juventus used to their advantage a few years ago and now Real are embracing it as well. They knew that by saving ammunition for a few years while their rivals made frantic moves, they could set themselves up for a potentially historic summer. That could happen this year. To all credit, Florentino Perez and his team were very smart.

So off to Barcelona. They are in a slightly different position to their rivals in that they are a good few years behind in their rebuilding. There are a good few years of incompetence from Josep Bartomeu for Joan Laporta and his team to undo. Miralem Pjanic, Matheus Fernandes, Martin Braithwaite, Malcom, Clement Lenglet, Nelson Semedo, Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho, Yerry Mina. We could go on. There have been many missteps along the way. Both in terms of the players recruited and the financial decisions that have been made.

But initial feedback and reports really give the impression that the club is moving in the right direction. Ferran Torres is a big signing, but he could be part of the front line for the next decade. Signing Haaland would also be a bit risky from a financial standpoint but if they can pull it off, he’ll pay him back more than that in the long run.

However, these seem to be unique. There’s no indication that Barcelona would pursue more than one massive signing per season. Other players linked with Barcelona are a trio of free agents from AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie and Chelsea duo Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen. In Kessie and Christensen, Barca get long-term solutions in the center of midfield and defense while Azpilicueta is a vital piece of leadership.

The other player seemingly heavily linked with the club is Valencia left-back Jose Gaya. At 26, Gaya would be Jordi Alba’s replacement and a true equivalent given that Valencia was Alba’s club signed by Barca. The fee would be £40-45m, but if he becomes left-back for six to eight years, it’s a worthwhile investment.

It comes after bringing in the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Dani Alves and Adama Traore in the January transfer market. These are all risky signings, there was no guarantee they would be as successful as they turned out to be. But the key is that they were cheap. If it didn’t work? It didn’t matter.

With La Masia kicking back into high gear and producing the likes of Ansu Fati, Gavi, Nico Gonzalez, Ilias Akhomach, Abde Ezzalzouli and Alejando Baldo over the past few years, you can start to see the mix Barcelona are looking for.

Mix your young stars from the academy with other young players bought at a young age who can grow together. Then sprinkle in bigger stars, bought cheap or free, and some marquee signings. Sound familiar?

Now it’s worth mentioning that part of the decisions made by the teams are due to the salary cap rules implemented by La Liga. The Galatico era will almost certainly never happen again. But as Real have shown, the rules can be manipulated to a team’s advantage.

In the end, both clubs are likely to make mistakes again, no one is ever perfect. But it’s really interesting to see a real shift in the politics of how these clubs operate. Both teams (Real are obviously further ahead) are making plays to get back to the top of the tree when it comes to European football. Neither of them has appeared in the last three Champions League finals. Four of the six participants were from the Premier League. Before that, Real and Barca played five consecutive finals, winning each. Barcelona have added two more in the previous five years.

It’s not a new way to build teams, but it’s something these two haven’t tried in a while, if at all, but you can already see the results of their hard work. Over the past few months, they have been two of the most exciting teams to watch across the continent.

We may never return to the stage where the Clasico was the cutthroat spectacle of the late 2000s/early 2010s. But we are well on our way to getting back there and becoming the one thing that brings the world to a standstill. The parts are already there, and more will be added soon.