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One of Europe’s all-time most successful clubs, Real Madrid has been the chosen destination for football’s greatest players for years. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and Gareth Bale are just some of the legends to pull on Real’s famous white shirt. However, things haven’t always gone to plan.
Over the years, there have been a fair number of big money flops signed by Real Madrid, with some formerly great players failing to settle at the Bernabeu.
Arriving from places like the Bundesliga, Serie A, and the Premier League, the following players all saw success before – and often after – their time at Real Madrid. However, it’s safe to say that their time with Los Blancos was a failure.
Here are the top five big-money flops in Real Madrid’s history.
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#1 Luka Jovic (Eintracht Frankfurt to Real Madrid, 2019)
Signed in the summer of 2019 to eventually replace the aging Karim Benzema, Luka Jovic’s time with Real Madrid turned out to be an absolute disaster.
The Serbian forward came to Real with a huge reputation after scoring 27 goals in 48 appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2018-19 campaign. And while it was the then-21-year-old’s first breakthrough season, it didn’t stop Los Blancos from parting with a huge €60m to bring him to the Bernabeu.
However, Jovic looked out of his depth from the moment he arrived at Real Madrid. In an injury-hit first campaign with his new side, the Serbian failed to make any kind of impact and simply couldn’t dislodge Benzema from his spot as Real’s main hitman.
Jovic made just 17 appearances in La Liga – 13 of them from the bench – and scored a disappointing two goals. Admittedly, he suffered from injury issues, but considering his price tag, it was probably fair to expect more.
The current season has seen Jovic sent back to Frankfurt on loan following another four disappointing appearances for Real. And while he’s regained some of his form since – scoring three goals – the chances of him becoming a legend at the Bernabeu seem slim.
#2 Kaka
The summer of 2009 was a huge one for Real Madrid, as they broke the world transfer record not once but twice. And while the £80m they paid for Cristiano Ronaldo turned out to be worth every penny, the €67m fee spent on Brazilian Kaka was unfortunately not.
Kaka had established himself as a world-class player over a period of six seasons at AC Milan. During that time, he’d scored 95 goals in 270 games, winning the Scudetto and the Champions League in the process.
However, four seasons at the Bernabeu saw him struggle greatly for form. A string of injuries didn’t help, but his return of just 23 league goals over his time with Los Blancos was painfully disappointing.
Seemingly always stuck in the shadow of Ronaldo, Kaka departed Real Madrid in the summer of 2013, heading back to Milan on a free transfer.
And the fact that he only got his hands on two trophies with Real Madrid – the 2010-11 Copa del Rey and the 2011-12 La Liga title – means that it’s safe to say that the Bernabeu never saw the best of this Brazilian star.
#3 Jonathan Woodgate
Jonathan Woodgate didn’t cost Real Madrid as much as some of the other players on this list – they paid Newcastle United around £13m for his services in 2004. However, it’s safe to say that the England defender was a massive flop at the Bernabeu.
Injured at the time of his transfer to Los Blancos, Woodgate failed to make a single appearance in his first season at the club.
And when he finally did pull on the famous white shirt in September 2005, his debut was a sheer disaster.
Woodgate was on the winning side as Real defeated Athletic Bilbao 3-1, but he also scored an own goal before being sent off for two bookings.
The England man recovered from his awful start to put together some decent performances for Real. But just as he’d begun to break properly into the first team, injuries struck again and left Woodgate back on the shelf.
By the time the 2005-06 campaign ended, Woodgate had made a total of 14 appearances for Real. The summer saw him move back to the Premier League in a loan move to Middlesbrough, and a year later, it was made permanent.
Incredibly, 2007 saw Woodgate voted Real Madrid’s worst signing of the 21st century by readers of Marca – summing up the defender’s diabolical time at the Bernabeu.
#4 Theo Hernandez
When Real Madrid parted with €24m to meet defender Theo Hernandez’s release clause in the summer of 2017, the move didn’t come without controversy.
The French left-back had spent the 2016-17 season starring for Alaves, appearing in 32 of their 38 La Liga matches. However, he was on loan at the club from his boyhood side – Real Madrid’s city rivals Atletico Madrid.
And so when Los Blancos decided to bring him to the Bernabeu, to say Atletico weren’t impressed would be an understatement. Unfortunately for Hernandez, his old club need not have worried.
The Frenchman made just 23 appearances in all competitions during his first campaign at the Bernabeu, struggling for form and managing just 10 starts in La Liga. And rather than have patience with him, the 2018-19 season saw Los Blancos loan him to Real Sociedad.
While he did fare a little better there, it wasn’t enough to impress the powers-that-be at Real Madrid. And so, in the summer of 2019, he was sold to AC Milan for just €20m.
Essentially, considering the hassle they went through to sign him, Hernandez simply wasn’t worth the bother.
#5 Eden Hazard
The Premier League has always been one of Real Madrid’s favorite places to shop for players, with stars like Gareth Bale, David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo heading to the Bernabeu from England over the years.
And in the summer of 2019, Los Blancos turned back to England’s top flight for their latest Galactico. They brought in Chelsea’s Eden Hazard for a fee of over €100m, making the Belgian winger one of the most expensive players in history in the process.
Hazard had arguably been the Premier League’s best player over the preceding few seasons, but to say his move hasn’t come off just yet would be a massive understatement.
His debut season was horrendously curtailed by injury, but questions also abounded over his professionalism after he reportedly arrived at his new club overweight.
The Belgian made just 16 league appearances during 2019-20 and only managed to score one goal.
The current campaign has gone equally poorly for Hazard. After apparently returning to training out of shape again, the former Chelsea man has started just eight games across all competitions, scoring only three goals.
At the age of 30, it’s probably too late for him to resurrect his career at the Bernabeu – meaning he’ll probably go down as one of Real Madrid’s all-time most expensive flops.
