15 Real Madrid’s Worst Signings of All Time

Real Madrid is the most successful club in the first two decades of the 21st century (from 2001 to 2020), according to the results of the poll just published on the Globe Soccer Award website. Real Madrid is well known for its willingness to spend during expensive transfer windows. They have also signed some of the greatest players in history, including Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and others.
These contracts ushered in a golden era for the Bernabeu football team, which won the European Championship for three consecutive seasons (2015/16 to 2017/18), becoming the first team in Champions League history to do so twice in a row, and went on to defend the title the following season. See Real Madrid's worst signings in the following post.
Besides, there are also Madrid’s worst signings that cost a huge amount of money to make, but all they bring to the club is a disappointment. Many names on this list will surprise you; although they are superstars, when they come to Real, they do not meet the expectations of the team and the fans. Real Madrid's currency contracts might be seen here.

#1 Kaka | €65m (2009)

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The Brazilian midfielder was one of the indispensable elements in the once "heavy" European Milan squad. He won the Ballon d'Or after helping the Rossoneri win the Champions League in 2007.
Because of such achievements, Real Madrid was determined to sign Kaka in 2009, and they hope that this player continues to perform at the highest level as he did in Milan.
However, constant injuries prevented Kaka from playing on the field to express himself. After Real brought in Ozil, it also hindered Kaka's hopes of playing regular football. He left Spain and returned to Milan for a season before moving to the MLS.

#2 Royston Drenthe| €14m | 2007

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It's debatable if a persona like Drenthe ever has the discipline necessary to perform at the highest level. What is known is that when he was ruthlessly jeered by the Bernabeu crowd during a match against Deportivo La Coruna, his chances of succeeding at Real Madrid virtually vanished.
His manager, Juande Ramos, said he was "suffering from worry" as a result and added, "As his coach, I will do all I can to help him since he has a lot of promise."
It never came to pass since the former teen idol subsequently left for Hercules, where he gained further notoriety for going on strike. The Dutch winger took early retirement at age 29 to concentrate on his rap career.

#3 Jonathan Woodgate | €18.3m | 2004

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The most disastrous debut ever? Woodgate's debut game for Madrid is difficult to forget, despite the fact that it was incredibly difficult to watch.The center-half had joined in 2004, but he missed a year of play due to a thigh injury that physicians had missed. "I thought, 'Right, you're back. "Show them what you can do," Later, he remembered his performance against Athletic Bilbao.
He was sent off after scoring his own goal. He received a standing ovation from a sympathetic Santiago Bernabeu, but no one objected when Woodgate was transferred back to England in 2006 after only eight further league games.

#4 James Rodriguez | €80m | 2014

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After his outstanding performance at the 2014 World Cup, James Rodriguez was bought by Real Madrid from Monaco. However, the Colombian player only showed his true ability in the first season.
There were times during his first season in Spain when he played as one, finishing the 2014–2015 campaign with 17 goals in all competitions.
However, when Zinedine Zidane became Real Madrid's coach, James had to sit on the bench more, and he was even pushed to join Bayern Munich on loan for two seasons. As a matter of course, this one-time star had to leave in the hope that he could find a way to save his career.

#5 Nicolas Anelka | €34.5m | 1999

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The French "nomad guy" has played for many big clubs. Anelka decided to leave Arsenal after two brilliant seasons (23 goals in 65 games) to join Real Madrid in 1999 to pursue his ambitions.
However, the French striker was "rejected" at the Bernabeu because of his attitude. He made only 19 appearances in his first season with the White Vultures and was dropped after a year.
Anelka is considered one of Real's most failed signings when the team had to spend 34.5 million euros in exchange for an extremely "rebellious" striker.

#6 Javier Saviola | Free | 2007

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Looking back, Saviola admitted, "I do wish I'd played more" during his time in Spain. The Argentine attacker had made an impression during his formative years at Barcelona, but it was obvious when he moved to Madrid that he would not live up to the expectations.
As 'The Little Rabbit' never seemed remotely capable of securing a regular starting position in a team including Arjen Robben, Gonzalo Higuain, Raul, Robinho, and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Madrid's choice to recruit Saviola did little more than irritate their Clasico opponents.
Saviola only scored five goals for Los Blancos before leaving for Benfica.

#7 Eden Hazard | €120m | 2019

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Eden Hazard's transfer to Real Madrid, which had been in the works for ten years, looked hopeless the minute the winger showed up overweight for preseason practice.
To be fair to Hazard, he was incredibly unlucky with injuries, given that he was almost injury-free throughout his tenure at Chelsea.
But even when he's been able to string together a few matches in Spain, he's come across as a pretty shoddy replica of the guy who shone in the Premier League for seven years.
Although Hazard has won several prestigious awards, including the Champions League, he contributed about as little to Real Madrid's 2021–22 victory as Gareth Bale—and it wasn't for lack of effort on the part of the Belgian, which arguably makes the entire thing even more heartbreaking.

#8 Elvir Baljic | €26m | 1999

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The Bosnian had impressed John Toshack while he was working in Turkey, and he convinced Madrid to pay a startlingly high price for the attacker.
Even when healthy, Baljic did not appear to belong at the top level, and after just one season and one goal in La Liga, he was loaned back to Fenerbahce. This did little to aid Baljic's chances of making an impression in Spain.
He subsequently reflected that It didn't hurt him to see the media listing him among Real's biggest flops, he didn't see himself that way.

#9 Julien Faubert | Loan | 2009

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Possibly not the worst move in Madrid's history, but certainly the most peculiar. The signing of Faubert on loan from West Ham during the January transfer window astonished the whole football world.
The fact that the Frenchman seemed to nod off during a game against Villarreal and skipped one training session because he thought he had the day off contributed to the fact that the buyout option was never invoked.
Although the right-back disputed it, saying, “I didn’t fall asleep on the bench; I prefer beds” it accurately captured the rather surreal silliness of his brief stay in the Spanish city

#10 Luka Jovic | €66m | 2019

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Jovic appeared to be Europe's upcoming top striker in 2018–19. For Frankfurt, he scored 10 goals in 14 games in the Europa League, and he also performed well in the Bundesliga.
It led to a complicated double transfer for Jovic, as he completed a permanent move to Germany before signing with Madrid the very next day. This convinced Madrid to pay an outrageous fee for a player who had been on loan at Frankfurt from Benfica.
Jovic hasn't exactly been worth the hassle; the Serbian has now joined Fiorentina after scoring only three goals in 51 outings for Los Blancos.

#11 Robert Prosinecki | €15m | 1991

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One of the greatest players to ever emerge from the Balkans, a talented midfielder who had recently assisted Red Star Belgrade in winning the European Cup, was expected to do great things.
The goal he scored in the Clasico versus Barcelona was the high point of his three-year Madrid career, although even that was significantly eclipsed by the fact that he left for Catalunya in 1995.
The fact that he too failed offered followers little solace.

#12 Walter Samuel | €25m | 2004

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Samuel appeared to be a great acquisition for a team in need of a ruthless, imposing center-back for €25 million. To the amusement of former coach Capello, the Argentinean, however, never resembled the player who had earned the moniker "The Wall" when playing for Roma.
Later, the Italian subsequently claimed that it still surprised him that Samuel failed to establish himself at Real Madrid; perhaps it was the wrong place at the wrong moment.
It definitely felt that way since Samuel quickly recovered to becoming one of the best defenders in the world after joining Inter in 2005 and becoming a legend at San Siro.

#13 Danilo | €31.5m | 2015

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Danilo has freely acknowledged that it is challenging to deal with the kind of media snooping that players in Madrid experience.The fact that mistakes spread quickly, no matter how minor, bothered him. He lamented that a mistake became very great even if it was small. And when you did something good, it was also very great.Danilo was unexpectedly transferred from Madrid to Manchester City in 2017 and to Juventus two years later, where he is presently playing and is still contending at the highest level.

#14 Antonio Cassano | €5m | 2006

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The fee may not be large, but Cassano is still an example of a huge waste of money. His comeback is really bad. In 7 appearances, he only scored 1 goal. Furthermore, his attitude and diet are even worse.
The Italian subsequently said, "In Madrid, I had a friend who was a hotel waiter," "His job was to bring me three or four pastries after I had sex.
They would trade roles: he would take the girl and his buddy would take the pastries. His friend would carry the pastries up the stairs, and lead the woman to him. A great night would include both sex and food.

#15 Pedro Leon | €10m | 2010

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In 2011, Leon said, "I felt humiliated at Madrid" and "I am not aware of doing anything wrong. I did all I could, I was professional, I worked hard."
In contrast, Mourinho. After being questioned repeatedly about his continued unwillingness to give the €10 million signing additional playing time, the Portuguese coach, who was angered by the winger's purportedly weak work ethic, ultimately snapped at the media.
It's not too surprising that Leon was expelled just after his controversial first season there.