As Jose Mourinho causes a ruckus in the transfer window by fluttering his lashes in the direction of Wayne Rooney, at his most recent club there is a feeling of optimism now that the storm clouds have passed.

With managerial target Carlo Ancelotti signed, sealed and delivered to provide a much more pleasant atmosphere and more appealing brand of football, club president Florentino Perez has been busy reshaping the identity of the team.

For quite some time, even before Mourinho’s arrival, Real was a club still defined by the Galactico era – obsessed with acquiring marquee names from abroad at the expense of academy talent.

Yet if you look at the transfer dealings made so far since the window opened, three things are certain: youth, Spaniards and technique are on the menu.

This being Real Madrid, over €70 million has been spent on transfers. But Isco, Asier Illarramendi, Casemiro and Daniel Carvajal are interesting prospects.

Carjaval is that rare thing at Real Madrid – a cantera product that is being given a chance in the first team. The right back was offloaded to Bayer Leverkusen last season and after impressing in a position where Real are not well stocked, they activated his buy-back clause of €6 million. He is set to battle Alvaro Arbeloa for the starting berth at right full-back. Indeed the more attack-minded youngster may well have the edge in Ancelotti’s mind as Arbeloa struggled to provide forward impetus last season.

Daniel Carvajal got the thumbs up to return to the Bernabeu

Carvajal’s promotion into the circle of trust could also be a faint sign that fellow cantera product and Spain U20 World Cup star Jese Rodriguez may be given an opportunity, although he is likely to go out on loan to gain experience.

Isco and Illarramendi’s signings are a major coup. The midfielders’ transfers to the Bernabeu are a sure sign that Real will play a more technical and progressive brand of football, as they try to implement a more palatable Barca-style philosophy. And the lofty transfer fees for both players suggest that they will not be languishing on the bench very often.

That of course means current first teamers will have to be sold. If Ancelotti chooses a 4-2-3-1 formation, Isco would either feature in the centre or on the flanks. But with Luka Modric, Kaka, Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria (to a lesser extent) filling some of those positions, something has to give.

Ozil has been a success and a creative hub. Last season he was Real’s top assists provider with 13 and the season before that when the capital club won the league, he was La Liga’s top assists man.

Meanwhile Kaka and Modric’s futures are less certain. The Brazilian has become a marginal figure at the Bernabeu and even though he will be reunited with his former Milan manager Ancelotti, he has regressed. Kaka’s success was built on his extraordinary change of pace but injuries have robbed him of this asset, leaving him a hollow shell of the 2007 World Player of the Year.

Modric struggled to get game time last season after his €40 million move but he has an advantage in the sense that he is younger than Kaka and more suited to a patient passing game. But one must note that he probably does not fancy another season on the Real bench.

Meanwhile Angel Di Maria is likely to stay at Real as a more traditional option on the wing, although he is not guaranteed a start due to his inconsistency and less technical style.

Further back, Illarramendi is one of the most promising pivotes (defensive midfielder) in the game. As mentioned in Newstalk’s Scouting Report a few months ago, the Real Sociedad youth graduate is defensively sound and technically skilled.

He is seen as a future replacement for fellow Basque and Sociedad grad Xabi Alonso, even if there are slight differences in their styles.

It seems likely that the 23-year-old will start alongside Alonso in a very technical engine room at the expense of the hard-running but technically limited Sami Khedira who, because of his size and attributes, was a Mourinho favourite.

It seems as if Cristiano Ronaldo will remain at the Bernabeu, but how he adapts to a different style of football will be fascinating, particularly in El Clasicos and big European games.

Mourinho’s Real side was built to bring out the Portuguese winger’s best features, namely rapid pace and deadly finishing.

But it is intriguing to see how he moulds himself into a much more technical and Spanish style of play that perhaps requires him to delve into a technical side that may not be as potent as his physical attributes.