Even with Cristiano Ronaldo, the most valuable player on the pitch at various times over the past few seasons for Real Madrid has been Ángel di María. His work rate up and down the left wing has been remarkable, shifting up in attack and back to defend in an energetic and tireless way we so seldom see from players of his caliber. 

With Real Madrid acquiring James Rodríguez and Toni Kroos this summer, di María is widely expected to eventually leave the club. Replacing him both in spirit and on-the-pitch production will be difficult even with two players of that level of talent.

With a strong season in Ligue 1 and a unequivocally remarkable World Cup for Colombia, Real Madrid purchased James for $107 million just one year after going to Monaco from Porto for $61 million. No player is sold for upwards of $60 million without being identified as supremely talented, but the World Cup performance clearly elevated his perceived ability to the strata of a top-10 player on the planet and Real Madrid gave Monaco an offer they couldn’t refuse and an incredible return on investment for the privilege of getting to have James for one season.

James is best suited as a classic No. 10, which means Carlo Ancelotti will need to adjust somewhat from the 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 he featured last season.

James is one of the world’s best playmakers, capable of scoring remarkable goals himself or in setting up others with his creativity. James doesn’t have the same type of energy on defense as di María, but he has shown a willingness and commitment to engage and will need to do so for Real Madrid. He won’t produce like di María and that will become an issue not against Malaga and or Rayo Vallecano, but it will deep into the Champions League against Bayern, PSG and the EPL clubs.

Real Madrid has a superstar culture and the lesson they learned from the superstar culture of the Galacticos era was that paying gigantic sums of money is only prudent when you are buying those players young.

James is only 23, while Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos were just 24 at the time of their purchases. Karim Benzema was 21 and di María was 22.

For the Galacticos, Zinédine Zidane was already 29 when he was bought from Juventus, Luis Figo was 27, David Beckham was 28, Kaká was 27 and Ronaldo was an old and uncommitted 25.

The difference in investing in a player who is on the younger side of 25 compared to the older side is immense and a far sounder way of doing business. In accounting for how transfer fees have gone up over time, Real Madrid Is paying the same amount of money now as they did for equivalent talent yet getting a wider range of prime years.

As important as that is for players that work out well, Real Madrid also has the opportunity to sell off players that don’t fit or perform up to their standards while they’re still relatively young. Real Madrid sold Mesut Özil and Gonzalo Higuaín last summer at the age of 24 and 25 respectively for significant fees. Álvaro Morata was sold this summer to Juventus at the age of 21. This helps balance the books both financially in a bubble and to help comply with FFP.

James is undoubtedly a world-class player, but he’s almost certainly not quite as good as he was in the World Cup that triggered a bidding war. His actual goals versus expected goals is very clearly unsustainable, but he’ll settle in perfectly amid so many weapons. Real Madrid can afford to pay that World Cup boost rate because he’s so young and he’ll be a key contributor as even 80 percent of that performance.

Even with the concerns in the short-term based on how the pieces fit, acquiring James as the next creative star of Real Madrid is a worthwhile investment.

Grade for Real Madrid on James: A-

Monaco is hardly building a club with long-term sustainability in what is one of the most unique situations in European football. The idea of a Monaco lifer is completely foreign and players are bought to be sold even if they're doing business on the same opulent level befitting their locale. Turning James around so quickly after beating out several competitive bids from England last year was extraordinary.

Grade for Monaco on James: A

Kroos was entering the final season of his contract with Bayern Munich and clearly wanted to be paid like a superstar in a way that looked unlikely if he stayed. Real Madrid purchased Kroos for approximately $40 million in what many have perceived to be a bargain.

Kroos is one of the most complete young midfielders in the world and is an especially gifted passer that clearly is the successor to Xabi Alonso as Real Madrid’s defensive midfielder. Kroos has had a tendency to be anonymous during stretches of his play with Bayern and for the German team and I expect him to embrace the challenge and the bigger role for Real Madrid.

Grade for Real Madrid on Kroos: A+

Bayern was faced with the possibility of losing Kroos for nothing next summer and this became an obvious transfer of necessity and will fund their next move for a Borussia Dortmund target. Kroos was the bridge in age between Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger as the old guards and the youth of Mario Götze and Thiago.

Pep Guardiola would have preferred to keep Kroos in an ideal world, but he’s hardly an irreplaceable player and prudent financial decisions remain necessary even though Bayern is in the midst of a financial gold rush.

Grade for Bayern on Kroos: B