Ranking the 5 best transfer windows of all time: Real Madrid

#2 Summer 2006

van Nistelrooy carried over his goalscoring form from England to Spain

Zinedine Zidane retired and Ronaldo moved to AC Milan, so Real desperately needed some very big names. They had eight incoming transfers in the summer of 2006 - among them two teenagers named Gonzalo Higuain and Marcelo.

But the really big names coming in were Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mahamadou Diarra and Fabio Cannavaro. While he might be known more for his time in the Serie A, Cannavaro spent three very successful years of his career in Spain, winning the Ballon d'Or in his debut season at the club.

While Higuain took a while to settle in, he soon started firing on all cylinders, and his goal return of 107 in 190 La Liga appearances is insanely good, proving that he's very underrated for his time in the Spanish capital.

Marcelo had begun to turn heads at Fluminense when Real Madrid approached him in 2006. He took a couple of seasons to settle in, but once he did, there was no turning back.

Diarra was the most expensive signing that summer (€26 million), and he did play a major role until his namesake Lassana was signed from Portsmouth to replace him after he was injured, and there was no coming back from that.

van Nistelrooy spent a short but eventful time at Real, with injury hampering his last couple of seasons. His 46 goals from 68 league matches though, is a fair return on the investment.

Jose Antonio Reyes arrived from Arsenal on a one season loan, and he played his role as well, scoring an 84th-minute winner against Mallorca to clinch the La Liga title.