This article was originally published on www.si.com as Alvaro Carreras: Why Real Madrid Paid €50 Million to Re-Sign a Player Who Left For Free. Five years later, Álvaro Carreras is back with Real Madrid.

MADRID — Real Madrid reached a deal to sign Álvaro Carreras from Benfica on Monday, bringing back the young left back who came through the Spanish club's youth squads. Madrid said the 22-year-old Carreras is arriving on a six-year contract. Financial details of the transfer were not immediately released.

Carreras has been a player for Real Madrid since yesterday, and today he signed his contract.After undergoing a medical examination in the morning at the Blua Sanitas Valdebebas Hospital, the