(Football news) Reliable reports in Spain claim that arch rivals Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid have broken their non-aggression pact. The two clubs for several years had a 'Gentleman's agreement' about not going after each other's players. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez reportedly has a similar pact with Barcelona president Joan Laporta. Now that the pact is broken, a lot of players at the youth levels are expected to cross the Madrid divide.
The pact was broken after a meeting between the two clubs. It's cause was the fact that Atlético Madrid tried to sign a couple of Real Madrid's youth team players. There are quite a few notable players who have played for both the Madrid sides. Thibaut Courtois, Jose Antonio Reyes, Juanfran and Santiago Solari have played for both the clubs. Alvaro Morata started his youth career at Atletico Madrid before moving to Real Madrid only to go back to Atletico Madrid as a professional player.
One of Real Madrid's biggest legends Raul started his youth career with the Rojiblancos. The more recent example is Theo Hernandez who was in the Atlético academy but then joined Real Madrid without ever playing for Atleti's first team. Real Madrid academy product Marcos Llorente after two seasons with the first team was sold to Atletico. Llorente has since had a very successful period with the Rojiblancos. Now that the pact is broken, the two clubs may not negotiate transfers but instead go for out of contract players or pay the release clauses directly. The breaking of the pact doesn't affect the first team much but the youth teams will have an effect.
The clubs could shock the world by trying to sign each other's established first team players. It will be interesting to see if Real Madrid try to sign someone like Joao Felix from their rivals but the likelihood of that happening is very less. Only time will tell who is the next player to come out of either club's youth system that played for the other rival first. The pact while still active helped build a certain relationship between the clubs but now that it's broken things could turn ugly.
