Real Zaragoza have announced on their club website the sale of 18 year-old captain and centre back Jesús Vallejo to Real Madrid. The youngster, who captained the Spanish U19 team to victory in the recent European Championships will remain at the Aragonese capital next season on loan, with the possibility of remaining for another year should Zaragoza achieve promotion to La Liga in the coming campaign.

Real Zaragoza will receive €6m in return for the sale of their iconic captain, whilst the Madrid giants have also agreed to take U16 international Dario Ramos to the Santiago Bernabéu as part of the deal.

The has unsurprisingly proven extremely unpopular with the fans who resent losing their captain and symbol of Zaragocismo for what is widely seen as a paultry sum. The club however, are in desperate need of a cash injection in order to finance the construction of a squad capable of challenging for promotion to the top flight of Spanish football.

The purchase of Vallejo is further evidence of Real Madrid’s strategy of investing in local youth talents – particularly those of the victorious U19s. As well as Vallejo, Madrid have also signed and loaned back Marco Asensio, scorer of two goals in the semi-finals of the recent U19 European Championships, and are strongly interested in Real Betis’ Dani Ceballos, the creative hub in midfield of La Rojita.