Kylian Mbappe & 6 more reasons why Real Madrid are set to dominate for a generation

Believe it or not, but it’s over 15 years since Real Madrid last won back-to-back La Liga titles.

Los Blancos might be unmatched when it comes to their domination of the Champions League, but it’s not since the 1980s – when the famous Quinta del Buitre won five in a row – that they’ve enjoyed a period of domestic dominance.

Barcelona won eight league titles, and a further six Copa del Rey, between 2008 and 2019. Madrid won just two league titles over that same period.

But everything is now coming together for Madrid to dominate Spanish football for a generation in the same way Barcelona did during their glory years. We’ve broken down seven reasons why we could be on the cusp of a new Madrid dynasty.

Kylian Mbappe

It’s the transfer saga that’s nourished El Chiringuito for what feels like forever. But according to widespread reports, it’s soon to have its conclusion. Last summer Mbappe rejected the one-year extension clause in his PSG contract and as a result he’s free to leave at the end of the season.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Saudi Pro League clubs have all been linked, but we all know there’s only one realistic destination for Mbappe.

Mbappe has already won one World Cup and scored a hat-trick in another final. He’s still only 25 and is already PSG’s all-time top goalscorer, with over 300 career goals for club and country.

He’s one year older than Cristiano Ronaldo was when he signed for Los Blancos in 2009 and feels like their biggest Galactico signing since then.

Everything looks set for Mbappe to score an obscene number of goals for Madrid. An upgrade on Joselu? Just a bit.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Real Madrid’s top scorers in La Liga since 2000?

Midfield rebuilt

You can imagine that Florentino Perez saw how Barcelona made a right old pig’s ear of replacing Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets and vowed never to make the same mistake.

Madrid have been proactive and decisive when it comes to looking beyond their own era-defining midfield of Casemiro, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. They cashed in on Casemiro and have done well to gradually integrate the next generation, who have learned invaluable lessons playing and training alongside Kroos and Modric.

Admittedly, the midfield rebuild has cost a pretty penny. Jude Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga cost well north of €200million combined, but quality doesn’t come cheap. And it looks like an incredibly sound investment when you consider they’re 20, 24 and 21 respectively. That could be Madrid’s next great midfield locked down for a decade.

Endrick

Believe the hype.

READ: Endrick has gone full Jude Bellingham & now we’re terrified of what Real Madrid are cooking

Vinicius & Rodrygo

“You keep asking me about a player who plays for another team,” Carlo Ancelotti when asked about Mbappe at the weekend.

“We already have the best players in the world here. In order: Vini Jr first, Bellingham second, Rodrygo third.”

High praise, but it made sense when you saw how Vinicius singlehandedly ripped apart title challengers Girona.

On the one hand, the arrival of Mbappe and Endrick will give Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo extra competition for spaces up top. The fact that Mbappe and Vinicius have the same preferred position is something for Ancelotti – or whoever succeeds him – to work out.

But you can class Madrid having an outrageously stacked attack as a nice problem to have, and one they’ve coped perfectly well with many times in their past.

And if push comes to shove, and there’s not enough room for all of them, Madrid could make an absolute fortune by moving one or both of them on. Being ruthless and cashing in on star players (Ronaldo, Casemiro, Di Maria, Ozil, Varane) is a strategy that’s served the club well.

Basket case Barcelona

Madrid’s historic rivals find themselves in a right old state. Pulling a number of economic levers, known as palancas, gave Barcelona a short-term boost in 2022 – helping build Xavi a squad that comfortably won the La Liga title last term. But the long-term health of the club looks a different picture altogether, begging the question of whether it was worth it.

You question whether the Catalan club will be in any position to compete financially, given they’ve sold off 25% of their television revenue for the next 25 years, as well as sizeable chunks of other sources of revenue. Robert Lewandowski looks past his best and yet his mammoth earnings are reportedly set to increase year on year. Star assets like Frenkie de Jong have been tipped to depart, while the club can’t seem to afford a genuinely top-class successor to Busquets.

Barcelona do have some exceptional youngsters to build around – Lamine Yamal, Gavi, Pedri – but they’d have to be seriously special to make something out of the mess they’re in.

Ageing Atletico

Barcelona aren’t Madrid’s only rivals that don’t look in brilliant shape right now.

There have been times this season where Diego Simeone’s men have looked brilliant and in a real position to compete. But inconsistent results have seen them fall away in the title race.

Atletico’s problem is it’s difficult to imagine them getting any better in the coming years, given that most of their core – Antoine Griezmann, Alvaro Morata, Koke, Cesar Azpilicueta, Axel Witsel, Koke – are all north of 30, or close to it (Marcos Llorente, Saul Niguez, Rodrigo De Paul).

Things will need freshening up in the near future and it’s a big ask to expect a team in transition to compete with this Real Madrid behemoth.

Lack of other challengers

Not since the 2011-12 season has any side other than Real Madrid, Atletico or Barcelona finished in La Liga’s top three. If Barca and Atleti fall away, it’s difficult to imagine any other club picking up the baton to challenge Los Blancos.

Valencia and Sevilla are huge clubs with lots of potential, but the two clubs have faced real off-field issues, resulting in them battling more towards the relegation zone than the European spots in recent years. It looks a long time before either club will be back in the top four again.

Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao have done remarkable things of late, but relying so heavily on their academies would require a miraculous, once-in-a-generation crop of players to emerge for them to genuinely compete with Madrid.

Girona’s astonishing title challenge this year has come from nowhere, but you sense – like Leicester in 2015-16 – it’s a now-or-never situation, and having fallen five points behind Madrid it looks more like never. Even with the backing of City Football Group, sustaining this kind of title-challenging form beyond one season is surely impossible.

Elsewhere, there’s lots of potential at clubs like Real Betis and Villarreal. But realistically there’s also a ceiling on how far they can go.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Real Madrid manager since 1998?