Top 5 forgettable Real Madrid signings. Real Madrid has enjoyed unheard-of success throughout their lengthy and illustrious history. They have a record 13 Champions League victories and 33 La Liga titles, seven more than their bitter rivals Barcelona, who have 26.
Due to the Los Blancos’ changing managing staff, it is clear that this squad is relentless in its pursuit of every trophy available to them in a given year. Before Zinedine Zidane arrived to usher in a new era at the Santiago Bernabeu, both Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez had their tenures as head coaches abruptly ended due to their quest for sustained success.
Their greatest players, known as “The Galacticos,” were the foundation upon which they built the majority of their success. At some point in their careers, players like Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, David Beckham, Raul, Iker Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Fabio Cannavaro, and Kaka have all called the Bernabeu home. Each has helped Real become the footballing superpower it is today in one way or another.
Nevertheless, not every signing works out as planned. There are several reasons why a signing might not succeed, including the pressure of a hefty price tag, an inability to adjust to the new environment, or simply not being good enough to go to a higher level.
Let’s look at five transfers that Real Madrid supporters will likely be eager to forget:
#5 Elvir Baljic:
Baljic transferred to Real Madrid in exchange for €26 million.
Real Madrid supporters can be excused for asking, “Who?” given that he appeared in just 11 games and registered one goal for Madrid between 1999 and 2002.
However, Baljic was once one of the most entertaining wingers in all of football, scoring more than one goal every other game in Turkey. Before moving on to play for Bursaspor and then domestic juggernauts Fenerbahce, he began his career at FK Sarajevo.
Many of the major clubs in Europe were interested in signing him after learning about his achievements in Turkey, but Los Blancos ultimately prevailed, paying a massive €26 million to get him to Madrid.
The winger ruptured his cruciate ligament in preseason, which gave his career an awful start. During his time in the capital of Spain, he was twice loaned out and never was able to recover from the injury.
He returned to Turkey and went on to play for Galatasaray, Konyaspor, and a few other teams when his contract was mutually cancelled in 2002. Between 2010 and 2014, he served as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s assistant manager after retiring in 2008.
#4 Thomas Gravesen:
Gravesen’s aggressive tackling style annoyed Fabio Capello. Since Gravesen’s contract was set to expire the following summer, Everton transferred the Danish midfielder to Real Madrid in January 2005 for a pitiful £2.5 million. He wasn’t exactly a player who would sell jerseys, but he still had a solid international resume and was known as a tough-tackling, combative midfielder.
He was forced into a defensive midfield position at Real Madrid under Fabio Capello after being mostly employed in a box-to-box role under David Moyes. The few times he did find himself in the starting lineup, despite being a decent if unspectacular player, it was a role he didn’t feel comfortable playing.
Additionally, it didn’t help that he got into a fight on the practise pitch after making a particularly strong challenge on wonderkid Robinho, to whom Capello was at the time harshly critical of his approach to the game.
After a brief second stint at Everton, he was sold to Celtic for £2 million and retired from the sport.
#3 Julien Faubert:
2009 saw the loan signing of Faubert from West Ham.
In January 2009, Julien Faubert was brought to Madrid on loan from West Ham with the option to purchase him at the end of the current campaign. Julien Faubert will be remembered in Madrid’s annals for all the wrong reasons.
The Frenchman gained notoriety for dozing off on the bench when Real Madrid and Villarreal were playing. He is also infamous for skipping a workout since he believed he had the day off.
The fact that Madrid never exercised the option to purchase him makes it clear why he left the club after just two games. He played with West Ham for another 100 games before joining Elazspor of the Turkish Super Lig.
After three years playing in France, he returned to his hometown club of Bordeaux in 2013 and spent time working at Scottish Premier League club Kilmarnock. At the age of 36, he is currently making his living playing football in France’s fourth tier.
#2 Antonio Cassano:
Discipline was a problem for Cassano while he was a member of the club.
After five incredibly successful seasons with the Italian giants, Madrid was able to entice Antonio Cassano away from Roma for the pittance of £3.8m back in 2006.
After coming off the bench against Real Betis, the Italian scored three minutes into his Los Blancos debut. Despite a promising beginning, he was demoted in the pecking order due to his terrible attitude and inability to train properly.
Cassano, who is now well-known for being one of football’s “bad boys,” squandered any opportunity to succeed at Real by repeatedly acting irresponsibly. Hefty fines did not curtail his propensity for mischief, and in late 2006 he was suspended for “a lack of respect” and later dropped entirely.
He only managed four goals for the team in 29 appearances before being loaned out to Sampdoria before the trade became permanent in 2008. He retired in 2017 after stints at Parma, Inter Milan, and AC Milan.
#1 Jonathan Woodgate:
Due to ongoing injury issues, Woodgate was never able to make the first team.
Despite his injury issues, Jonathan Woodgate had established himself as one of the top centre backs in the nation during stints with Leeds and Newcastle United. Even so, it was unexpected when the Los Blancos showed up in August 2004 and managed to lure him to Madrid after handing the Magpies a handsome £13.4 million.
Woodgate’s career at Madrid had a tough beginning because he was injured at the time of his signing and missed the entire 2004–2005 season without playing a single minute. He suffered the humiliation of being called one of the worst club football debutants as a result.
On September 22, 2005, he finally made his professional debut against Athletic Bilbao. The Middlesbrough native’s game did not go as planned as he was sent off for a second bookable offence after scoring an own goal past Iker Casillas.
Even though he temporarily started to see improvement after becoming a regular in the first team in early 2006, subsequent injury issues ended his chances of having a successful career in the Spanish city.
He joined Middlesbrough on loan for the 2006–07 season before committing to the team permanently the following year. After that, Woodgate played for teams like Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City before announcing his retirement from all aspects of the game in 2016.
Sadly, users of Marca, Spain’s top sports publication, chose him as the worst signing of the twenty-first century with 37.1% of the vote.
Follow your favorite team’s journey in football through the latest news and updates.