Real Madrid have completed the sale of forward Jacobo Ortega to Ligue 1 club Strasbourg for a fee of €10 million, the two clubs confirmed on 17 August 2026. Strasbourg have paid for 70 percent of the 20-year-old's rights, with Real Madrid retaining the remaining 30 percent, a cut of any future sale, and a priority option to buy him back if he develops as they expect. Ortega has signed a five-year contract at Strasbourg, running until 2031.
Strasbourg, owned by the BlueCo group that also owns Chelsea, opened talks with an €8 million bid for half of Ortega's rights before Real Madrid pushed the price up. The French club, who narrowly missed out on European qualification last season, wanted a young striker they could build around for the long term rather than a short-term fix. Ortega's age, physical profile and goal record made him a target they were prepared to pay a club-record fee for a Real Madrid academy departure to secure. He also drew interest from Spanish side Elche, but ultimately opted for the Strasbourg project.
For Real Madrid, this is the most expensive sale in the club's history of a player who never made a first-team appearance. Ortega joined the academy in 2018 at the age of 12 and spent eight years coming through La Fábrica, Madrid's youth system, developing into one of its most productive forwards. He was a key figure in the Real Madrid side that won the UEFA Youth League in 2025-26, scoring in the final victory over Club Brugge. His exit leaves Madrid without a forward many at the club rated highly, though with no obvious route into a first team stacked with attacking options, the move gives Ortega a clearer path to regular senior football. Real Madrid have built in the same sell-on clause and buy-back option that have become standard in their recent academy sales, a policy that has brought in close to €199 million this summer alongside deals for players including Nico Paz, Gonzalo García and Víctor Muñoz.
In terms of recent form, Ortega had a productive 2025-26 season, scoring 18 goals in total across Real Madrid's C team, Castilla and the Under-19 side. That output, together with his performances in the Youth League run, is what persuaded Strasbourg to make him one of their marquee summer signings and to keep raising their offer until Real Madrid accepted.
At Strasbourg, Ortega joins a club with a track record of giving young players regular first-team minutes and developing them further, a model that has become the hallmark of the BlueCo ownership's approach across its clubs. He arrives as an out-and-out centre-forward option under head coach Gary O'Neil, who took charge in January 2026 after Liam Rosenior left to become Chelsea's manager. At 1.90m, Ortega offers a physical profile that should suit direct, aerial and hold-up play, and the length of his contract suggests the club see him as a long-term building block up front rather than an immediate stopgap. How quickly he adapts to first-team football in France, after two years playing mostly against reserve and youth-team opposition in Spain, will determine how soon he starts featuring regularly for Strasbourg.
