21-year-old Gonzalo García has been a breakout star for Real Madrid as they target glory at the 2025 Club World Cup this summer.
In Real Madrid’s star-studded forward line, there has been an anomaly at the 2025 Club World Cup. In the same team as Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and the rest, Gonzalo García has been Xabi Alonso’s starting centre forward this summer, scoring two goals in the three games he has played at the tournament.
García will almost certainly lose his place in the Real Madrid lineup when Kylian Mbappé is available again. The French striker was hospitalised with acute gastroenteritis and has yet to play at the Club World Cup, but is back in training and could even make his return to action against Juventus in Tuesday’s last 16 tie.
This, however, shouldn’t dull the impact García has made. His introduction to the Real Madrid first team has been part of Alonso’s mission statement as the club’s new manager. While the former Bayer Leverkusen boss has been hired to mould Los Blancos’ current collection of Galacticos, he clearly wants to also establish a pathway from the academy.
Playing under Raúl, García set a goalscoring record for Real Madrid Castilla last season, registering 25 goals in the Spanish third tier. The young forward was subsequently on the radar of many supporters, but few expected him to play such a prominent role so soon in Alonso’s managerial tenure.
Alonso himself has drawn the comparison between García and the legendary Raúl, the greatest homegrown forward in Real Madrid’s history. There are similarities in the way they find space inside the box with García demonstrating his natural finishing instincts with well-taken goals against Al-Hilal and Salzburg.
“I had no doubts about Gonzalo,” said Alonso when asked about bringing García into the team. “What he’s doing isn’t a surprise. He’s done it many times at Castilla. At least for him. He’s the typical number nine, who knows how to wait for his opportunity, who moves well. I’m very happy for him. He has Raúl qualities in his movements.”
To look at, García isn’t the most imposing of centre forwards. He stands at 5ft 11”. He isn’t particularly fast, nor is he obviously strong. And yet the 21-year-old is intelligent in his movement and clearly has an eye for goal. He is deceptively good in the air and can even play on the wing, as he did once Real Madrid went down to 10 men against Pachuca.
Real Madrid needed someone like García. They had lacked an orthodox number nine since letting Joselu leave the club at the end of the 2023/24 season. While Joselu certainly wasn’t the biggest name in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad, he came up with countless big goals and moments as someone who gave Los Blancos a different dimension up front.
García might not be the conventional focal point that Joselu was, but the youngster could perform an important secondary role in a similar manner. Alonso has no choice but to build around Mbappé, Vinícius and Bellingham. In García, though, he has someone hungry to prove himself and grateful for any opportunity to do so.
Despite García’s positive impression at the Club World Cup, there is speculation Real Madrid could let him leave this summer. Leeds United have been mentioned as potential suitors of the young striker following their promotion to the Premier League with Sunderland also believed to be admirers. García would improve either side.
Real Madrid are at the start of a transition that started with the arrival of Alonso, but is a long, long way from being complete. Alonso has used a back four and a back three at the Club World Cup. He has set up his midfield unit in a diamond and also in a four spread across the pitch from left to right.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been pushed inside to form part of a box midfield as a deep-lying pace-setter. He has also been used as a high and wide right wing back. Real Madrid have sat off opponents. They also attempted to press them high, although after years of playing under Ancelotti they aren’t as cohesive out of possession as Alonso would surely likely them to be.
The Real Madrid team that is currently playing at the Club World Cup could look very different to the one that starts the 2025/26 season. It will certainly shift and change over the course of the campaign itself as Alonso gets to grips with what he has inherited from Ancelotti and the previous regime.
In this shifting landscape, García must continue to work hard to earn a place in Alonso’s vision. Mbappé’s return will offer the 21-year-old a clearer idea of what Real Madrid want and need him to be. Minutes might now be harder to come by, but Alonso has already shown faith in the youngster. He embodies the change happening at the Santiago Bernabéu.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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