Rumor don become reality. The speculation wey Luis de la Fuente dey consider leaving every Real Madrid player out of Spain’s next World Cup squad prove to be true: no single Madrid player perform well enough during the past season to warrant inclusion. This happen despite the club’s heavy investment in young talent during summer 2025, including Dean Huijsen for $66 million and Álvaro Carreras for $57 million. Real Madrid’s disappointing campaign ultimately do the rest.
Canada, United States, and Mexico go host the World Cup. Only Gonzalo wey dem include among the reinforcement players wey go join the group before traveling to North America. Slowly, Real Madrid don undergo a process of de-Spanishization. Sergio Ramos’ departure in 2021 mark the beginning of a gradual shift wey culminate five years later with De la Fuente’s latest squad list.
That same year, then-Spain coach Luis Enrique Martínez choose not to call up a single Madrid player for the European Championship held across the continent. Na only the second time Real Madrid go unrepresented at a major international tournament – World Cups, European Championships, or Olympic Games. The first come at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
For that European Championship, the two Madrid players with the strongest cases na Sergio Ramos and Nacho. Marco Asensio also dey contention, but none of the three make the final squad. Ramos don dey plagued by injuries and appear in only five games during the final stretch of the season, totaling just 395 minutes. Nacho wey dem omit despite finishing the campaign strongly, while Asensio’s inconsistency ultimately cost him a place.
From that point on, the influence of Real Madrid players within Spain’s national team steadily decline. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Luis Enrique include Madrid players Dani Carvajal and Marco Asensio. By then, Isco don already leave the club. One by one, prominent Spanish players depart the Bernabéu. In 2023 na Asensio. In 2024, Nacho, Joselu – the hero of the semifinal against Bayern Munich – and Kepa leave, the latter wey arrive on loan from Chelsea following Thibaut Courtois’ serious injury. In 2025, Lucas Vázquez say goodbye after a career wey include appearances at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup.
Now Carvajal’s future dey uncertain, and Dani Ceballos fit be next. Na shortly after Euro 2021 wey Madrid supporters begin to sense lack of confidence in Spanish players. One example come in a Champions League game against Sheriff Tiraspol in September 2021. In the 66th minute, just after Karim Benzema don equalize from the penalty spot, Carlo Ancelotti make four substitutions at once. Two of the players wey dem withdraw na the only Spanish starters that night, full-backs Nacho and Miguel Gutiérrez. Their replacements na Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić, Rodrygo and Luka Jović, while Casemiro and Eden Hazard also enter the game.
Real Madrid finish the match with an entirely non-Spanish lineup: Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga at full-back, Courtois in goal, Éder Militão and David Alaba in central defense, Kroos and Modrić in midfield, Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior on the wings, Benzema in support and Jović up front. Madrid eventually lose 2-1 thanks to a stunning late goal from Sébastien Thill.
Two years later, in January 2023, Real Madrid travel to Villarreal with a starting lineup wey no feature a single Spanish player: Courtois; Militão, Antonio Rüdiger, Alaba, Ferland Mendy; Modrić, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema and Vinícius. Na the first time in the club’s history wey no Spanish player start a game. Over the course of 4,435 matches, there always dey at least one Spaniard in the lineup. On the bench that day na Nacho, Asensio, Lucas Vázquez, Ceballos, backup goalkeeper Luis López and Jesús Vallejo.
In effect, there be one Spain-eligible signing for every three foreign recruits. Of those 14 Spaniards, only Álvaro Arbeloa and Carvajal become long-term starters. Another example of this transformation come in Real Madrid’s most recent Champions League game. For Munich, the club field a lineup with no players eligible for selection by De la Fuente. Brahim Díaz wey dem born for Málaga, but after not being called up by Spain, he complete the process to represent Morocco, drawing on his family roots through his paternal grandmother.
Little by little, Real Madrid don lose part of its traditional identity, even in a year wey mark the 60th anniversary of the club’s sixth European Cup triumph – a title wey dem win by a team wey feature 11 Spanish players.
