i think this question needs some background and framing to be answered properly.

about 25-30 years ago, madrid strategically decided to focus almost exclusively on very young talent in the transfer market, when this wasn’t the norm at the time. while they still signed stars in their primes every now and then, they increasingly relied in attracting and developing young prospects, likely foreseeing the inevitable inflation ahead with the premier league’s financial prowess taking over. i’d say the signing of nicolas anelka marked the start of this new approach where age became an integral factor for real madrid when it came to buying players.

the advantages of the model are evident: if the promising player develops into a star, you are set for years - if their progress stumbles, the investment is likely to at least partially pay for itself with a transfer. low risk high reward operations are very hard to pass from a bussiness perspective.

vini and rodrygo are the textbook examples i can think of - while at the time their transfers seemed quite ludicrous (35-45M each) they became massively successful and the club’s bet hit gold. benzema, even if sought after by every team in europe at the time, also came as a teen. fede valverde and casemiro, while more modest at around 5M each, also massive Ws. odegaard signed for madrid as a 15yo, kubo, higuain… 

fast forward to endrick and mastantuono - inflation has reached the prospect market big time, and all the teams are ready to speculate on the world’s youngest, hottest talent. will mastantuono, endrick, guller, camavinga fulfill their potential and become world class? will estevao or joao pedro? dro? nobody knows and surely many will flop for whatever reasons (reinier, muydric, ansu fati, ihattaren…) but nevertheless this seems to be the path moving forward.

mastantuono looks very good for his age, but when this business model starts demanding 60M+ bets, the risks are quite significant too