5 Real Madrid rejects who are doing just fine 

Real Madrid have certainly had their fair share of world class players over the years from the scintillating Cristiano Ronaldo to the enthralling Zinedine Zidane. But there are also a lot of players who have slipped out of Madrid's hands.

Madrid are known to be interested in pretty much every player who is in the form of their life and no matter what the value, they always get their man.

Arguably the biggest club in the world, Madrid have made some good and bad investments.

Many have failed at the Bernabeu but have gone on to show their worth and talent for other teams.

If you're a Madrid supporter, then take a deep breath before taking a look at what could have been for these five players at the Bernabeu.

5) Mesut Ozil

Ozil was spectacular at Real Madrid

Ozil became a recognised player at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa at the age of 21. His German squad made it all the way to the semi-finals but were knocked out by eventual winners Spain.

During that process, Ozil gathered the world's attention with a phenomenal half-volleyed goal against Ghana in the group stages. He was nominated for the Golden Ball Award and was also ranked first in assists in major European and domestic competitions with 25.

His display at the 2010 World Cup earned him a contract with Real Madrid later that summer, and he departed from Bundesliga club, Werder Bremen, after a two-year spell.

Throughout Ozil's three years at Madrid, the German made over 100 appearances and scored 19 goals but his highlight at the Spanish club, as a creative player, was his distribution to his teammates.

In the 2010/11 season where Madrid finished runners-up in the La Liga table to rivals Barcelona, Ozil provided 17 assists finishing second in the league's assists table, just one behind Lionel Messi. An achievement at the time for the German midfielder to be happy with.

In the following season, Ozil matched the same amount of assists of 17 enough to get the most assists in La Liga of the 2011/12 campaign and enough to help Madrid become champions of Spain once more.

Ozil left Madrid for Arsenal in the 2013 summer transfer window shocking many Madrid fans, the German's colleagues and teammates. The likes of Sergio Ramos and Alvaro Arbeloa were gutted to see him go.

When Gareth Bale joined Madrid in the summer for a world record transfer fee, at the time, of £86 million, club president Florentino Perez needed to recoup some money and this was the reason behind Ozil getting axed.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti said Ozil's performance in training did not have enough intensity. Ozil's addition proved to be a great signing for the Gunners manager Arsene Wenger. In his four-year stay at the London club, Ozil has had good success winning three FA Cups in four seasons and has been a key player at the Emirates Stadium.

His football in the Premier League has been no distraction to his international duties winning the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 after his first season at Arsenal.

The world-class midfielder's best season so far was in the 2015/16 Premier League season where he assisted 19 goals.

Ozil has proved to the Spanish giants that he has still got it and has consistently shown his footballing abilities in the Premier League.

4) Wesley Sneijder

Wesley Sneijder was written off a little too early

Another fine product from the Ajax youth system, Wesley Sneijder was signed for around £27 million in 2007.

Sneijder was the second of three Dutchman to join the Galacticos in 2007 as Arjen Robben and Royston Drenthe signed for the same team as well.

Sneijder had big boots to fill replacing David Beckham's number 23 even though both they both played in different positions.

The Dutch midfielder's first season was a success with nine goals scored overall including one scored on his debut being the winning goal in the Madrid derby against Atletico, two goals past Villarreal CF including a direct free kick and then in the final game of that season scored a thrilling free kick to wrap up a good debut season against Levante UD. Madrid retained the La Liga trophy that season.

Sneijder's second season outing for the Spanish club did not start off well after he picked up a cruciate ligament injury in a pre-season friendly against Arsenal keeping him off the pitch for two months.

When the Dutchman recovered from his injury, he would take the number 10 shirt from Robinho after the Brazilian signed for Manchester City at the end of the 2008 summer transfer window. Sneijder would only go on to score two goals in that season, at the end of which the midfielder signed for Inter Milan for just over £12 million.

Sneijder's first season at Inter was a dream come true. Jose Mourinho was his boss and played alongside the very best of Samuel Eto'o, Esteban Cambiasso and Lucio.

The 2009/10 chapter of Sneijder's career may go down as his best season of his footballing career so far as he achieved the treble. Mourinho's men won Serie A, Coppa Italia and for the first time in 45 years won the UEFA Champions League for Inter.

3) Gonzalo Higuain

Problems of having 2 world-class strikers in a team

Gonzalo Higuain has received mixed fortunes throughout his career. The Juventus fans love the Argentinian while his home country is not too welcoming to him especially after his disappointing goal attempts at the 2014 FIFA World Cup final where Argentina eventually lost to Germany.

There was a lot of excitement when Higuain joined Madrid in 2007 from Argentine club River Plate and the build-up was worth it as the deadly man up front won three La Liga titles and scored 107 goals in 190 league appearances during his time at Madrid before setting off to Napoli in 2013.

Higuain could not quite convince Madrid to keep him ahead of fellow striker Karim Benzema. The Argentinian was spending most matches sitting on the bench while Benzema was the star up front leaving Higuain very unhappy. Higuain told Football Italia weeks after his move to Napoli: “I was very happy in Madrid during some moments, but less happy in others,” he told Football Italia.

“You suffer when you don’t get to play for some time, as you do when you have to share games with Karim Benzema.

“You played one game and then not the next.”

After his £40 million transfer to Napoli, Higuain continued to be lethal and he won Coppa Italia in his first season. Higuain went on to the lift the Capocannoniere title in the 2015/16 season and equalled Gino Rossetti's 87-year-old record for goals in an Italian top-flight season.

After he scored 71 goals scored in 104 games for Napoli, he grabbed the attention of Juventus who signed the highly rated striker in 2016 for £90 million. He has since played against his old club Madrid in last season's UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff but lost 4-1 on the night.

To this day Higuain is considered as one of the best strikers in the world.

2) Arjen Robben

Arjen Robben is one of the best players in the Bundesliga

We'll always remember Arjen Robben as the fast Dutchman who cuts in from the wing and no matter how predictable his manoeuvres have been throughout his career, he has always outpaced his opponent and on most occasions found the top corner of the net from a long way out.

Robben joined Madrid in the same summer as fellow Dutch internationals Sneijder and Drenthe after three years at Chelsea. The move was a step up in his career after a very good start with Chelsea where he won major trophies.

Robben's stay was exactly the same as Sneijder's- from 2007 to 2009. Many of the Madrid fans appreciated Robben's wing play approach but he claims to have been forced to leave the Spanish club. Another talented player headed to the Bernabeu exit.

Bayern Munich snatched Robben for £25 million and it proved to be a good move for both the player and the club. Robben went on to finally get his hands on the UEFA Champions League trophy after scoring the winning goal past German club rivals Borussia Dortmund. Robben failed to achieve European success at Chelsea, Madrid and in the 2010 final for Bayern against Inter.

Robben has also won the Bundesliga six times, the DFB-Pokal and the DFB-Super Cup.

1) Angel Di Maria

Angel Di Maria was one of the best players at Real Madrid before he was abruptly sold

Another fine player who won everything at his time at Madrid had to leave the club in the summer of 2014 just months after winning the Champions League, the club's first European Cup in 12 years.

After playing for Madrid for four years, Di Maria headed to the Premier League to play under Louis Van Gaal as the Dutch manager was getting ready for his first season in charge at Manchester United.

It is believed Di Maria left Madrid as Perez was raising funds for the signature of James Rodriguez who shone at the 2014 World Cup for Colombia. There was lots of hype as, at the time, United signed the Argentinian for a British transfer record fee of £59.7 million. His spell at the Theatre of Dreams did not even last 12 months despite providing 10 assists in the English top flight.

Di Maria joined PSG in 2015 for £44 million which has so far been one of the winger's best decisions of his career so far. In his debut season, he reached 18 assists the most in Ligue 1 that season. This was five more than teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The 29-year-old has so far won six trophies in his spell with the French capital side and is currently in a squad with Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe and are serious contenders for the Champions League this season.