Transfer grades: Real Madrid's brilliant back line rebuild

Hello and welcome back to The Transfer Flow’s summer transfer grades. This week, we’re covering 20 of the biggest teams on the European continent. If you missed any of last week’s Premier League grades, you can find them here: Part 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Today, we’re covering the 5 La Liga teams that qualified for the UEFA Champions League:

• Real Madrid

• Barcelona

• Atlético Madrid

• Villarreal

• Athletic Bilbao

Tomorrow’s newsletter is 5 big Serie A teams, and Thursday’s will be 5 Bundesliga teams. Friday’s will feature the 3 Champions League qualifiers from France, plus a couple of bonus teams from Italy that we found too interesting to exclude from the series.

The same caveats as the English grades: We tried our best to find accurate info on add-ons and separate them out from guaranteed fees, but there isn’t detailed and accurate reporting on every transfer. To avoid guessing on how easy or hard everyone’s add-ons are to achieve, they’re added in full to the total number. Loan fees are also included in the totals.

Loan obligations or options to buy are not included in fees. We’ll include them in the window they’re executed, since that’s what matters for most governing bodies’ FFP purposes. We converted everything to Euros to keep it simple and add up all the fees, and exchange rates vary day to day.

Real Madrid — Back at the top?

Total incomings — €165m

• Dean Huijsen — €60m

• Alvaro Carreras — €50m

• Franco Mastantuono — €45m

• Trent Alexander-Arnold — €10m (+€20m signing bonus)

Defensive injuries held Real Madrid back last season, with the side looking disjointed when their first choice back line wasn’t available. They’ve attacked that problem with a vengeance, signing three new players for their defensive unit.

Huijsen and Carreras have already fit in superbly. Alexander-Arnold looks like he’s going to have a bit more of a learning curve, but even if he doesn’t quite work out, getting him for a nominal fee is obviously an A+ transfer. I don’t think Los Blancos could have done better for the money they spent this summer.

Teenager Franco Mastantuono is still a bit of a mystery box. I don’t seem to rate him as highly as Prospect Twitter, and have said on this newsletter previously that I think his skillset and ceiling is closer to Erik Lamela than a Real Madrid superstar. If I’m right, it’s still no big loss, and Madrid should be able to sell him at break even. — KM

Kim: B+ | Moe: B | Neel: B+ | Hayden: B+

Total outgoings — €2m

• Alvaro Rodriguez — €2m

• Luka Modric — Free

• Lucas Vazquez — Free

• Reinier — Free

• Jesus Vallejo — Free

• Mario Martin — Loan

Not much going on here. Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez, thank you for your service. You will be welcome at the Santiago Bernabeu anytime. — KM

Kim: C | Moe: C- | Neel: C | Hayden: C

Real Madrid got better, and did so without spending an outrageous amount of money. The only thing holding these grades back from being higher is the lack of a passing midfielder. Toni Kroos and Luka Modric have exited without any kind of direct replacement getting brought in, and this could be the difference between a good and great season for Madrid. — KM

Overall grade: B

Barcelona — No more levers to pull

Total incomings — €27.5m

• Joan Garcia — €25m

• Roony Bardghji — €2.5m

• Marcus Rashford — Loan, option to buy

Given the ongoing financial difficulties with Barcelona, they were going to be limited in what they could spend. There were links with Nico Williams and Luis Díaz, but for various reasons, neither of them signed with the Catalan club.

Instead, they’re hoping to get a rejuvenated Marcus Rashford on loan (which they’re covering his wages) with an option to buy. In theory, Rashford provides another option as an inside forward who in a pinch can moonlight as a ST, but his form has been erratic over the past two seasons. Acquiring Joan García as a first choice GK could end up paying dividends for years to come given how impressive he was with Espanyol last season. Signing Roony Bardghji was very Football Manager-esque. — MM

Kim: C | Moe: C+ | Neel: C+ | Hayden: B-

Total outgoings — €26m

• Pau Victor — €12m + €3m add-ons

• Alex Valle — €6m

• Pablo Torre — €5m

• Clement Lenglet — Free

• Iñigo Martinez — Free

• Oriol Romeu — Free

• Hector Fort —Loan

• Inaki Peña — Loan

• Ansu Fati — Loan, option to buy

A lot of the outgoings for Barcelona this past summer involved players who were periphery figures for the first team. The biggest departure was losing Iñigo Martínez on a free to Al Nasr, as he played a big part in the club’s success last season. Ansu Fati was once thought of as the future of Barcelona, but constant injuries have derailed his standing in football and so he’s hoping to revive his career in French football. Clément Lenglet left for Atletico on a free transfer after spending the 2024-25 season on loan with them. — MM

Kim: C | Moe: C | Neel: C | Hayden: B-

The summer of 2025 ended up being a quiet one for Barcelona in terms of player trading. The signing of Garcia was shrewd, and there’s at least an argument in favor of signing Rashford. Losing Martinez for nothing could hurt and drags down their grade a bit. The good news is despite all of this, Barcelona should remain an inner circle contender to win all the major trophies this season. — MM

Overall grade: C

Atlético Madrid — Building for life after Cholo?

Total incomings — €212m

• Alex Baena — €45m + €5m add-ons

• David Hancko — €30m + €3m add-ons

• Johnny Cardoso — €24m + €6m add-ons

• Giacomo Raspadori — €22m + €4m add-ons

• Thiago Almada — €24m + €1m add-ons

• Matteo Ruggeri — €17m + €3m add-ons

• Marc Pubill — €16m + €4m add-ons

• Santiago Mourino — €4m (buy back option, immediately flipped)

• Juan Musso — €3m

• Nico Gonzalez — Loan, obligation to buy

• Clement Lenglet — Free

Atlético Madrid have crucially focused most of their business on younger players to bring down the average age of what was one of the oldest squads in La Liga. They’ve struck a couple of good deals in the process, but there was some room for improvement too.

I quite like Álex Baena, but Thiago Almada is a very similar profile, so that does limit flexibility in the left wing position. On the other side of the attack, the amount committed to Nico González (obligation to buy) and Giacomo Raspadori could have been better spent. The same could be said of Johnny Cardoso, who does not look too well-suited to a more ball-dominant style of play. Dávid Hancko is a solid pickup at centre-back, and Marc Pubill and Matteo Ruggeri are strong young full-backs, so the defensive signings look pretty good. — NS

Kim: B- | Moe: B | Neel: B+ | Hayden: B

Total outgoings — €71m

• Samuel Lino — €20m + €5m add-ons

• Arthur Vermeeren — €20m

• Santiago Mourino — €10m

• Rodrigo Riquelme — €8m

• Angel Correa — €8m

• Reinildo Mandava — Free

• Saul Niguez — Free

• Axel Witsel — Free

• Cesar Azpilicueta — Free

• Rodrigo De Paul — Loan

• Thomas Lamar — Loan

• Horatiu Moldovan — Loan

Building on the above point, Atléti have also done the right thing in moving on some of the older players and their big wages. Arthur Vermeeren did not seem to work out so recouping the fee paid for him is good enough, but I think Real Betis will be quite pleased with what they had to pay for Rodrigo Riquelme. I can get behind the fee for Samuel Lino, but I’d rather have kept him as a different profile of left winger than reinvest the same amount on Thiago Almada. — NS

Kim: B+ | Moe: B | Neel: B+ | Hayden: B

I’m not sure how exactly to assess Atlético Madrid’s business overall. On paper, they’ve largely done well to address areas of need, but my issue is that they are continuing to move the squad in a direction which does not seem to suit Diego Simeone. At some point, everybody has got to move on, and I think we are fast approaching that time for Cholo. — NS

Overall grade: B

Villarreal — Good business, questionable morals

Total incomings — €116m

• Georges Mikautadze — €31m + €6m add-ons

• Renato Veiga — €25m + €5m add-ons

• Alberto Moleiro — €14m + €2m add-ons

• Santiago Mourino — €10m

• Tajon Buchanan — €9m

• Tani Oluwaseyi — €8m

• Arnau Tenas — €2.5m + €3.5m add-ons

• Thomas Partey — Free

• Rafa Marin — Loan

• Manor Solomon — Loan

Villarreal were the most entertaining team in La Liga last season, for my money’s worth. I was naturally going to keep a close eye on their summer business and liked what I saw initially, but then they signed that one guy who single-handedly gets them downgraded.

As for the rest of the players, I really like Alberto Moleiro as an Álex Baena replacement – he’s quite similar in profile and came at a reasonable fee thanks to Las Palmas’ relegation. Georges Mikautadze did not come cheap, but he should fit into their setup very well. I’m not sure if buying from Chelsea was the right idea because they got a good deal for Renato Veiga, but he could still be a solid presence in the Villarreal back line. I’m curious to see more of Santiago Mouriño and certainly Tani Oluwaseyi, thanks to Hayden Van Brewer. — NS

Kim: B- | Moe: C+ | Neel: C+ | Hayden: B

Total outgoings — €124m

• Alex Baena — €45m + €5m add-ons

• Yeremy Pino — €30m + €6m add-ons

• Thierno Barry — €32m

• Karl Etta Eyong — €3m

• Andres Ferrari — €2.5m

• Jorge Pascual — €500k

• Arnaut Danjuma — Free

• Eric Bailly — Free

• Denis Suarez — Free

• Kiko Femenia — Free

• Raul Albiol — Free

• Alex Fores — Loan

• Ramon Terrats — Loan

Villarreal brought in about as much as they spent with three major sales. They’re all decent deals, but I would have pushed to get a little bit more for Álex Baena given the fact that his contract ran until 2028 and he moved to direct rivals. Yéremy Pino was quite highly rated but never strung together an outstanding season so that’s a good fee, but Thierno Barry did also move for a little under his release clause less than a year after joining. — NS

Kim: A | Moe: B+ | Neel: B | Hayden: A

Villarreal have done an excellent job of getting good fees for their stars and instantly reloading in recent seasons, and they look set to repeat the trick this term. However, a couple of questionable decisions sour their summer’s work for me. — NS

Overall grade: B

Athletic Bilbao — Kept Nico, nothing else matters

Total incomings — €13.7m

• Jesus Areso — €12m

• Aymeric Laporte — €1.7m

• Robert Navarro — Free

Athletic brought back two former players in Aymeric Laporte and Jesús Areso. Laporte was once an important contributor to Manchester City’s dynasty, but at 31 and having been out of European football during the last two seasons, it’s fair to wonder how much he’s got left in the tank. With Athletic’s unique club policy of only signing players who were born in the Basque country, Areso fit that narrow scope and returned for a second run after performing solidly with Osasuna. Robert Navarro was signed for a free transfer, and with Athletic having a crowded schedule because of Champions League football, Navarro could end up providing useful depth. — MM

Kim: B+ | Moe: B- | Neel: B- | Hayden: B-

Total outgoings — €4m

• Adu Ares — Free

• Javi Marton — Free

• Unai Venecedor — Free

• Peio Canales — Free

• Benat Gerenabarrena — Free

• Oscar de Marcos — Free

• Alvario Djalo — Loan

• Julen Agirrezabala — Loan

• Hugo Rincon — Loan

The biggest positive for Athletic was keeping Nico Williams on a new long-term deal (with reportedly a substantially larger release clause too) after negotiations with Barcelona broke down. Although 2024-25 was a down season for him, there’s still a lot to like about his game. There’s pretty much nothing else of note, although having to loan out Alvaro Djalo only a year after paying €15m plus €5m in add-ons is not a great look. — MM

Kim: C+ | Moe: C+ | Neel: B+ | Hayden: C+

On the whole, Athletic Club had a fine summer. They kept their best player for at least the near future, while also improving the depth at their disposal to handle a packed fixture list. Athletic are a summer or two away from having to truly refresh the squad due to its advancing age, but that’s a conversation for another time. For now, they have a better chance of competing in La Liga and the Champions League, which is what the fanbase was hoping for. — MM

Overall grade: B

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