Real Madrid beat Barcelona in race for 15-year-old Spanish prodigy

Real Madrid have made it a point to keep an eye out for exciting young talents from within Spain and across the globe.

The idea is to sign the players at a young age and groom them into future stars within the club. It has led to the Merengues keeping an eye on out several exciting youth prospects from around the world.

Recently, it emerged that Real Madrid were all set to sign teenage goalkeeper Sergio Mestre from Atletico Madrid.

Now, it appears that Los Blancos have closed the deal for another talented and promising Spanish teenager from the academy of a rival club.

Real Madrid set to sign Jairo Morilla

Indeed, as per Mario Cortegana of The Athletic, Real Madrid are all set to sign Real Betis’ teenage attacking prospect Jairo Morilla this summer.

Morilla, 15, has been with Real Betis’ academy since the pre-benjamin stages and has risen through the ranks rapidly.

Despite being an Under-15 player, he has already made his debut for Betis’ Juvenil B side – three levels above his age group.

Furthermore, the young striker is also a part of the Spanish Under-16 national team and has previously won several trophies with the Under-15 side, where he was the captain.

Interestingly, while representing the Spain Under-15 team, Morilla played with Enzo Alves – the son of Real Madrid legend Marcelo and a rising star at La Fabrica.

Real Madrid beat strong competition from rivals

The report from Cortegana goes on to add that Real Madrid had stiff competition in the race for Morilla as arch-rivals Barcelona were also keen on the 15-year-old.

In fact, the Catalans had held talks to take the teenage centre-forward to La Masia.

Meanwhile, Real Betis themselves spared no efforts to try and convince the striker to renew and continue progressing at the club.

Other teams from within Spain and abroad were also interested, but Real Madrid have prevailed and will now add one of Betis’ brightest young talents to their academy.