Real Madrid's "new Raul" Gonzalo Garcia won attention with her outstanding finishing ability and is ready to shine in the 2025/26 season of La Liga.
As one of the most famous youth training camps in world football, Real Madrid youth training camp Rafabricca has trained many talented young players over the years, and the most eye-catching rookie in recent years is Gonzalo Garcia. With Enderick missing the Club World Cup due to injury and Mbappe's condition unstable due to illness, Real Madrid's new coach Alonso decisively used his own youth training players to strengthen his forward line. Gonzalo Garcia lived up to his responsibilities and helped Real Madrid successfully advance to the semi-finals with four key goals, showing excellent goal efficiency.
From countdown to setting a record
This is not the first time that Gonzalo has amazed Real Madrid fans. Since joining Real Madrid's youth training camp at the age of 10, he has grown steadily and has made his first-team debut against Cadiz in November 2023. In the 2022/23 season, he scored 35 goals for Real Madrid Youth A, helping the team win the domestic triple championship, so he was successfully promoted to Real Madrid B (Castia).
Ancelotti has been paying attention to Gonzalo, who is only 21 years old, and gave the young player a chance to show his skills in the 2023/24 Cup of the Rey quarterfinals. In the game on the spot, Real Madrid challenged Leganes away. Gonzalo made a substitute at 2-2 and scored a final goal in stoppage time to help the team advance to the semi-finals.凭借整赛季在皇马B队的出色发挥，他最终以25粒进球刷新了西班牙第三级别联赛的单赛季进球纪录。
"New Raul" under Alonso
Although Gonzalo mainly served as center during the Club World Cup, he has the ability to take on multiple positions in Real Madrid's forward line. It is particularly worth mentioning that his excellent heading ability makes him an important weapon for the White Army to break the deadlock when facing intensive defense. Gonzalo's former coach and coach of Real Madrid Youth A team in 2021/22 season, Hernan Perez commented in an interview with The National: "He has excellent heading ability, extremely strong lower limbs, and very developed quadriceps and calf muscles. Today's forwards generally emphasize running and finding space, while Gonzalo has many air-control abilities that tall forwards do not have. This is particularly important for Real Madrid. After all, they often face the situation of their opponents in deep defense, and Gonzalo is the terminator that the team lacked before."
Gonzalo's excellent finishing ability also makes him frequently compared with Real Madrid legend Raul. Raul once coached him in Real Madrid B team and witnessed the growth of this talented boy. Even the current coach Alonso admitted that some of Gonzalo's performance on the court reminded him of Raul.
"To be honest, his performance now doesn't surprise me, because he is a very typical No. 9 player." Alonso commented, "He reminded me of Raul in many ways: always appearing in the right position, always waiting for the opportunity to come, and always staying focused and devoted to the game, and giving his all for the team."
In the face of the high praise from the outside world, Gonzalo has always remained humble. He admitted: "It is a very high evaluation to be compared with Raul, and I always respect it. I have been fortunate to be in the same locker room with him during his coaching in the past two years. This experience has benefited a lot. He will send me a message after every game, encouraging me and help me adjust my form so that I can perform better in the next game. His careful guidance has helped me greatly in my growth."
With his outstanding performance this summer, Gonzalo Garcia is expected to strive for more opportunities in the upcoming 2025/26 La Liga season. He is also from Real Madrid's youth training, and he is moving steadily along Raul's footsteps back then. One of the most anticipated new stars in Spanish football, his story has just begun.