5 players whom Real Madrid sold too soon

Real Madrid are one of the best clubs in the world and are curretly having a stellar time in the La Liga inspite of starting the new season shakily. One major flaw with Real Madrid is that they have a bad habit of buying success instead of attempting to build it on their own. Real Madrid have broken the transfer record numerous times and have got great players at ridiculous prices. Arch-foes Barcelona prefer to breed home grown talent and have one of the best youth set ups in the world. Here are 5 players who Madrid had on their books but foolishly sold too early.

#1 Samuel Eto\'o

Real Madrid must be really kicking themselves for letting this gem get away.Eto'o joined Real Madrid's youth academy as a 16 year old but oly played with their B team as he was still a minor. The next season Eto'o was loaned out to Mallorca where he scored 54 times in all competitions which is still their club record. The Cameroonian grew frustrated with his lack of playing time at Madrid inspite of performing so well with Mallorca and made his feeling known to the club.

Madrid president Florentino Perez wanted to keep Eto'o at the club a bit longer but was tempted to sell him when Barcelona offered €24 million for the striker in 2004. In his 4 seasons with Barca Eto'o won numerous trophies including 3 La Liga's and 2 Champions League's besidesbeing one of the most prolific strikers in the league. The 32-year-old then moved to Inter Milan where he won another Champions League along with a Serie A and the Coppa Italia. Madrid would have had a lethal striker to link up with Raul if they had held on to Eto'o.

#2 Juan Mata

The Spaniard joined Madrid's youth academy from Real Oviedo as a 15-year-old and progressed rapidly making his way to the B team in just two years. Mata performed brilliantly for the B team and was their second best scorer with 10 goals just 8 behind former ream mate and current Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo. In spite of his good performance Mata was never promoted to the first team and left for Valencia in 2007.

Mata was one of Valencia's star players helping the club win the Copa Del Ray in his first season and finished the campaign with 13 assists only 1 behind Barcelona's Xavi. Chelsea snapped up Mata's services in 2011 and he helped them win the double of the FA Cup and Champions League in his first season. The 25-year-old is now with Manchester United where he already has assists to his name. If Madrid had held on to Mata then they would have had a home grown world class talent instead of splashing out of Mesut Ozil.

#3 Claude Makelele

Makelele was one of the best midfielders of all time and was so good at his job that the defesive midfield position is commonly known as the Makelele role now days. Real Madrid got Makelele for just €14 million from Celta Vigo which proved to be one of the biggest bargains as the player helped Madrid win 2 La Liga's, 1 Champions League and 1 Super Cup. Makelele wanted and rightly deserve an improved contract but his request was turned down by Madrid who subsequently offloaded him to Chelsea.

Real president Florentino Perez infamously said: "We will not miss Makélelé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn't a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makélelé to be forgotten." Madrid brought Beckham as a replacement but former player Zinedine Zidane said: "Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?" Perez was proved wrong when Makelele helped Chelsea win a truck load of silverware.

#4 Alvaro Negredo

Negredo was signed by Real Madrid as a 20-year-old and was their B teams highest scorer with 18 goals. In spite of his brilliance Negredo never made a single first team appearance for Los Blancos and was offloaded to Almeria in 2007 with a buy back option.The Spaniard performed extremely well at Almeria scoring 32 goals over two seasons which led to Real Madrid buying him back in 2007.

Negredo never got a first team opportunity at Real Madrid during his second stint as Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzima, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Klaas Jaan Hunterlaa were all ahead of him in the pecking order. Negredo was then sold to Sevilla where he scored 85 goals in a span of 5 years before reuniting with former Madrid manager Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City. The 28-year-old has got off to a good start at City netting 3 goals in all competitions so far. Madrid would have had a top class striker in Negredo and could have saved on millions had they decided to keep him.

#5 Ezequiel Garay

The talented defender was on Real Madrid's books for four years but made just 25 appearances for the club during his entire spell in the Spanish capital. Garay then moved to Benfica in 2011 for just €5.5 million which turned out to be a bargain as he helped them win the league in the first season along with gaining critical acclaim for his defensive abilities.

This season has been etremely good for Garay especially in the Champions League where he managed to complete 85% of his passes. Manchester United are chasing his signature as they have identified him as a potential replacement to the retiring Rio Ferdinand. Garay would have been a much better defender than Pepe who is known to make horrendous tackles as well as glaring errors.