Atlético Talent Signs Contract Through 2016

Atlético Madrid announced on Monday 28 November 2011 that Javier Manquillo had signed a new contract keeping him at the club until 2016. The right back, born on 5 May 1994, was 17 at the time and was handed the deal by Carlos Aguilera, the director of the club’s youth setup.

Manquillo was then playing for Juvenil A, the highest of the club’s youth teams. He had been part of Gregorio Manzano’s first-team squad in pre-season and had shortly before caught the eye in a friendly against Zamalek. Rated as one of the strongest prospects in the academy, he was a regular for Spain at under-16 and under-17 level and had recently been called up to train with the under-19 selection.

The contract was a small piece of a wider policy. Between 2010 and 2013 the club tied down a cluster of academy players on long deals, Koke, Saúl Ñíguez, Óliver Torres and Manquillo among them, at a point when the first team was being rebuilt on a limited budget and the academy at Cerro del Espino was the cheapest available source of squad depth.

The promotion followed quickly. Manquillo made his competitive debut for the first team the following year, played in the Copa del Rey second leg against Real Jaén in November 2012, and became a regular squad member during the 2013-14 season that ended with the La Liga title and a Champions League final in Lisbon. He left for Liverpool in 2014, later played for Sunderland and Marseille, and settled at Newcastle United.

Of the group he came through with, Koke went on to break the club’s appearance record and Saúl became a fixture of Diego Simeone’s midfield, an argument the club still makes for the youth system whenever a transfer budget is questioned.

The rest of the youth structure and the players it has produced are set out in the academy section, the squads of the period in the club history pages, and further reports from the same months in the archive.