Usually, Real Madrid get it right on the transfer market. There are never any shortage of options to choose from, because, year after year, Real Madrid have their pick of the litter. They can pretty much sign anyone they want on the transfer market, and the ball is in their court to dictate which players they think are worth it to invest in.
Sometimes, Real Madrid get it horribly wrong, but in some of those cases, nobody could have predicted that player flopping, such as Eden Hazard. In other cases, like Mariano Diaz and Luka Jovic, Real Madrid simply overpaid for mid-level talent.
But more often, Real Madrid have balked at very talented players who were overvalued, either because their talent was overrated or others simply didn't see the warning signs of their impending decline.
Here are five players Real Madrid did well to avoid signing.
AM Kai Havertz
In 2020 during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Madrid were eyeing Bayer Leverkusen breakout star Kai Havertz, and manager Zinedine Zidane was actually high on the attacking midfielder.
But Real Madrid put the kibosh on any signings that year due to pandemic funding reasons, and they were also less than enamored with their options. Zidane has a great eye for talent, having spotted Raphael Varane in Ligue 1 for just pennies on the dollar, but Juni Calafat and Florentino Perez must have overruled him in this case.
Zidane wasn't necessarily wrong about Havertz, and the German international wasn't a total flop at Chelsea since he did win the Champions League and still made the club some money with a subsequent transfer to rivals Arsenal, where he's actually performed better.
But for 84 million euros, Havertz would have been close to a disastrous signing for Real Madrid. Los Blancos only spend that kind of money on sure-fire, world-class players like Jude Bellingham. Havertz wasn't quite that. Real Madrid didn't play with a No. 10 at that time, and Havertz didn't have the finishing chops or quickness to fill Karim Benzema's shoes as an all-around 9 either.
ST Radamel Falcao
Many outlets have chronicled how close Radamel Falcao was to joining Real Madrid several years ago, and he reportedly even offered himself to Madrid in 2018 before later moving to Turkey after failed loan spells to Chelsea and Manchester United.
Falcao was a great striker for Porto, Atletico Madrid, and Monaco, but with all due respect to those clubs, that was his level. Although he was a great finisher during his peak, that peak didn't last very long because of injuries.
He was also a one-dimensional player who would not have fit Real Madrid. The Merengues require a multi-faceted striker, and Falcao simply could not hold a candle to the all-around greatness that is Karim Benzema. There's just no comparison between the two, and, to be honest, I wouldn't put Falcao's career above Gonzalo Higuain's from before either.
RW Raheem Sterling
I don't know how many of you remember this, but during the 2019/20 season, Adidas were trying very hard to bring one of their athletes to their biggest club, Real Madrid, seeing an opportunity to market a new dynasty at the Santiago Bernabeu after Nike superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's 2018 exit.
That player was England international Raheem Sterling. Between Gareth Bale's peak and Jude Bellingham's arrival, there were a lot of people in the sports branding industry who wanted to see an English superstar in Madrid, and, almost by default, the topic focused on Raheem Sterling, who would eventually make his way from Manchester City to join Chelsea (and now Arsenal on loan in 2024/25) after becoming the latest star to fall in Pep Guardiola's eyes.
Sterling used to be a fantastic, goal-scoring right winger with his ability to finish from wide angles, get behind the defense with perfect timing, feel out spaces with his footballing IQ off the ball, and drive in low crosses to create chances.
But the 2020 version of Sterling was teetering over the edge of the decline. Maybe the gurus at Adidas didn't quite have the footballing sense to see what was happening, but Florentino Perez and Real Madrid knew that it was best to steer clear of him.
RB Maicon
It may seem blasphemous to have quite literally one of the greatest right backs of all time on the list of players Real Madrid are glad they didn't acquire, especially since there was a time before Dani Carvajal when the right back position was a bit of a weakness. Before Lucas Vazquez was stinking up the joint on the right side of the Real Madrid flank, the club had Alvaro Arbeloa as a starter. Arbeloa wasn't half as bad as 2024/25 Vazquez is, but he was largely seen as the main liability in the Real Madrid XI.
Maicon became a popular rumored transfer target for Real Madrid in 2010. That was when Jose Mourinho moved to the Spanish capital, fresh off helping Inter Milan become the first Italian team in history (and still the only) to win the coveted treble. There was a feeling that Maicon, in his prime at 28 years old, would make the switch to Spain alongside his Inter coach.
Instead, Real Madrid stuck with Arbeloa at right back. A few years later in 2013, Real Madrid would bring back Dani Carvajal from loan at Bayer Leverkusen, where he recorded seven assists as the Bundesliga's best right back. Carvajal would seal the position for more than a decade, going on to win a whopping six Champions League titles for the Royal Whites.
So while Maicon was at the peak of his powers, fresh off a treble, and entrenched as the best right back in football alongside compatriot Dani Alves, Real Madrid ended up in a much better place because they didn't sign him. Had they added Maicon, they may have never secured Carvajal back from Leverkusen.
Maicon would only play for Inter for two more seasons, and while he was still a very good right back, you could tell he was slowly declining. After a failed season at Manchester City, the Brazilian legend moved back to Serie A with Roma, where he finished his career as a solid but unspectacular player - certainly not at the level Carvajal was in the mid-2010s.
RW Serge Gnabry
Coming off their first Champions League title win without Cristiano Ronaldo or Zinedine Zidane since the 90s, Real Madrid were still interested in attacking help. They wanted a veteran backup for Karim Benzema or a young player to be his heir, and since they couldn't sign Kylian Mbappe that summer, they were also looking at possible winger options on the right side to form a rotation with Champions League hero Rodrygo Goes.
Serge Gnabry was still in negotiations with Bayern Munich, and he was being linked to Real Madrid as a possible market opportunity if Bayern couldn't reach an agreement with the German international. It looked like talks between Gnabry and the European Clasico rivals were stalling, so Real Madrid had an opportunity to sign Gnabry at less than market value - but still at around 20 million euros in wages.
So while Gnabry would have cost less than 50 million euros, any cheaper expense would have been offest by the wages. And Real Madrid clearly dodged a bullet here. After Florentino and the club balked at Gnabry, viewing him as an inferior option, Bayern and the player settled on a new contract that Die Roten have since come to regret.
Gnabry has fallen off a cliff. He's become about an average super-sub for Bayern and is nowhere near the level of a starter anymore, especially not for a Champions League title-hopeful. Gnabry has lost his speed and explosiveness, and his overall attacking output has bottomed out. He matched his 14 goals and 5 assists in 2022/23 in the first season of his new deal, but, since then, he's scored just 8 goals and 4 assists in the last two seasons combined. Now set to turn 30, Gnabry would have been a truly disastrous signing for Real Madrid, particularly from a wage perspective, in 2022.