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Real Madrid: Ranking the 5 most disappointing transfers in club history

By Manas Pratim Sharma

Real Madrid's Brazilian midfielder Kaka celebrates after scoring a goal during the Trophy Teresa Herrera football match Deportivo La Coruna vs Real Madrid on August 29, 2013 at Riazor stadium in Galicia's La Coruna, northwestern Spain. AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL RIOPA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images)
Real Madrid's Brazilian midfielder Kaka celebrates after scoring a goal during the Trophy Teresa Herrera football match Deportivo La Coruna vs Real Madrid on August 29, 2013 at Riazor stadium in Galicia's La Coruna, northwestern Spain. AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL RIOPA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Real Madrid has always been a club that isn’t afraid of splashing the cash to get the signatures of the most sought-after players in the history of the game. They were famous to have set up, arguably, the best lineup in history in the 2000s with players like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, and Roberto Carlos.

Again, in Florentino Perez’s second stint as club president, the Bernabeu was home to some of the superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Angel Di Maria playing in it. However, the history of transfers in the Spanish Capital hasn’t been all rosy. For every Cristiano Ronaldo or Sergio Ramos, there has been one Kaka or Eden Hazard.

This is my attempt to rank the club’s five most disappointing transfers of all time.

Real Madrid, Nicolas Anelka.(ELECTRONIC IMAGE) (Photo by Patrick HERTZOG / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP via Getty Images)
Real Madrid, Nicolas Anelka.(ELECTRONIC IMAGE) (Photo by Patrick HERTZOG / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP via Getty Images) /

5. NICOLAS ANELKA

Real Madrid took a huge gamble when they signed the Frenchman, Nicolas Anelka from Arsenal in the summer of 1999. Anelka had mesmerized everyone with his form in the 1997/98 season, he was the highest goal-scorer for Arsenal and was voted the PFA Player of the Year. However, he couldn’t replicate his form in the subsequent season and fans picked on him. The English press even gave him a nickname, ‘Le Sulk’.

Real Madrid won the race for the player’s signature the next summer and hoped for a change of fortune for the Frenchman. A transfer that cost Los Blancos 35 million euros, per Transfermarkt lasted just for one season and was then sold to PSG for half a million less than what he was bought for.

Though Anelka lasted just one season in the Bernabeu, it was an eventful season. His scoring form, however, took its time to resume. His first goal from the club since his summer signing came in October. He netted in key games like El Clasico and in the knockout stages of the Champions League. He’d eventually be a part of the team that won the Champions League in the 1999/2000 season.

However, Anelka’s signing remains a disappointing one. He was an impressive player who was supposed to step in as a marquee signing. But, his stay was cut short due to repeated falling out with the club management and coaching staff. This also featured an infamous 45-day ban for the player. In the end, the club had to let go of him. Madridistas wish there was a better story for the impressive Frenchman at the Spanish Capital. This was it for Anelka.

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