{"id":1149174,"date":"2020-07-06T12:30:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T11:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1149174"},"modified":"2022-02-20T23:25:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T23:25:30","slug":"real-madrid-galacticos-players-sold","status":"publish","type":"cult-corner","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/cult-corner\/real-madrid-galacticos-players-sold\/","title":{"rendered":"The world-class players Real Madrid sold to sign even more expensive ‘Gal\u00e1cticos’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gold surrounds the club crest but silverware is in Real Madrid’s<\/span> DNA.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They have more La Liga titles than any other club in Spain<\/span> (33) and more European Cups (13) than anyone else, too. The same is also true of the Club World Cup, of which they have won four.<\/p>\n

All of this makes them a head-turning proposition to any transfer target in sight. Especially as Real Madrid have essentially been able to reserve places in Fifpro’s annual Men’s World XI over the last decade. <\/em>Only Barcelona (55) have a better ‘appearances by club’ record in the men’s yearly line-up “celebrating football’s best players” than Madrid (53).<\/p>\n

So why would anyone ever leave? In most cases, even those of club legends such as San Iker<\/em><\/a>, it is because they are made to.<\/p>\n

The Gal\u00e1cticos <\/em>policy of signing global superstars at huge cost, most heavily associated with Real Madrid<\/span> and club president Florentino Perez’s two terms in particular, is impossible without player sales. And when paying world-record fees, any makeweight sold usually has to be highly valuable in their own right to raise the necessary funds.<\/p>\n

So here are seven world-class players who were reduced to sellable assets because of Real Madrid<\/span>‘s expensive habit.<\/p>\n

1. Clarence Seedorf<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sold in: <\/strong>Winter 1999\/2000, to Inter for \u00a315m<\/p>\n

‘Gal\u00e1ctico’<\/em> signed by Real Madrid<\/span> that summer: <\/strong>Figo, from Barcelona<\/span> for \u00a338m<\/p>\n

\"Real<\/p>\n

You get star-struck just looking at the career path of Clarence Seedorf. He was the complete midfielder and part of the Ajax team of 1994\/95 who, under Louis van Gaal, went ‘invincible’ while winning both the Eredivisie and Champions League. Then, after a gap-year at Sampdoria working under Sven Goran-Eriksson, Seedorf became a Real Madrid<\/span> player before turning 21.<\/p>\n

At the Bernabeu he won La Liga<\/span> as well as another Champions League in 1998.\u00a0 But domestic failures and debts were mounting up at Real Madrid<\/span> toward the end of the 20th century, creating tension behind the scenes within squad in need of a refresh. Seedorf was involved in more than one on-field argument with teammates and his playing time in the 1999\/2000 season was reduced. Madrid sold him to Inter midway through the campaign.<\/p>\n

“The club needed money, and I was the highest ticket,” is how Seedorf puts it.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BaovrkdBCBi\/?utm_source=ig_embed<\/p>\n

This was the winter before the summer where Perez became president off the back of a promise to address the club’s serious financial issues and buy Luis Figo from Barcelona<\/span> for a world-record \u20ac62 million all at once<\/span>. He was somehow true to his word.<\/p>\n

Alongside Figo, Fl\u00e1vio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o was signed from reigning Spanish champions at the time Deportivo La Coruna and Claude Makelele arrived from Celta Vigo. The combined outlay for what was basically a whole new midfield amounted to nearly \u20ac100m and even that did not stop them signing Zinedine Zidane the next year for three quarters of this figure by himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Italy<\/span>, Seedorf was about to begin the third act in one of football history’s most uniquely successful club careers, but only after the setting shifted slightly. AC Milan landed Seedorf in a swap deal after two trophy-less campaigns at Inter, ripping off their closest rivals to the tune of one Francesco Coco.<\/p>\n

Within a year, Seedorf became the only player ever to win the Champions League with three different teams. Four years later, Milan won it again and Seedorf was named the Best Midfielder by Uefa.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Figo left Real Madrid himself for Inter in 2005 and for a while was part of the team that stopped Seedorf’s Milan, or anyone else in Italy, winning the Scudetto<\/em> for the rest of the decade.<\/p>\n

2. Claude Makelele (2000 – 2003)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sold in: <\/strong>Summer 2003, to Chelsea<\/span> for \u00a314m<\/p>\n

‘Gal\u00e1ctico’<\/em> signed by Real Madrid<\/span> that summer: <\/strong>David Beckham, from Manchester United<\/span> for \u00a325m<\/p>\n

\"Real<\/p>\n

You are probably familiar with the time Zidane asked, \u201cWhy put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a reaction to the news Mak\u00e9l\u00e9l\u00e9 had been sold to Chelsea<\/span> in 2003, possibly their most regrettable sale of the modern era as it would be four years before Madrid won another major trophy. <\/span><\/p>\n

And t<\/span>he answer to Zidane’s question was David Beckham.<\/p>\n

In the last two years of his contract and having just won La Liga, Mak\u00e9l\u00e9l\u00e9 thought he was about to get a new deal. \u201cI got my manager to see the president for my new contract,” he later explained to reporters, “but he said there was no money left after signing Beckham.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Mak\u00e9l\u00e9l\u00e9 decided this was his cue to leave but was told by an “aggressive” Jorge Valdano, sporting director at the time, that “he should be playing at Real Madrid<\/span> for free” and that they would only let him go if he found a buyer willing to pay \u20ac15m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The end result was of course a move to Chelsea<\/span> in the first summer transfer window of the Roman Abramovich era<\/a>. More expensive signings included Hernan Crespo, Damien Duff and Juan Sebastian Veron, but the man who had a whole position renamed in his honour outshone all of them.<\/p>\n

Mak\u00e9l\u00e9l\u00e9 would win two Premier League<\/span> titles in his first three seasons at Stamford Bridge. Within the same timeframe Real Madrid<\/span> won nothing and Perez resigned as club president.<\/p>\n

3. Arjen Robben<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sold in: <\/strong>Summer 2009, to Bayern Munich for \u00a321m<\/p>\n

‘Gal\u00e1ctico’<\/em> signed by Real Madrid<\/span> that summer: <\/strong>Cristiano Ronaldo, from Man United<\/span> for \u00a380m<\/p>\n

\"Real<\/p>\n

Real Madrid<\/span> caught Oranjekoorts <\/em>during the 2007 summer transfer window and bought Wesley Sneijder, Royston Drenthe and Arjen Robben. Ruud van Nistelrooy was already there and Rafael van der Vaart would join a year later. By Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s signing in winter 2009, there was a six-strong clique of Netherlands<\/span> internationals in the squad and only Spain<\/span> was better represented as a nationality.<\/p>\n

It makes sense when you consider this was a decade in which the Netherlands<\/span> national team never dropped out of the Fifa World Ranking top 10. Better still, between 2008 and 2012 they were never even outside the top three and while Drenthe may seem an outlier now, he was signed after being named Uefa’s ‘Golden Player’ for the 2007 European U21 Championship.<\/p>\n

Robben arrived a two-time Premier League winner with Chelsea<\/span> and was key in the 2007\/2008 La Liga win, the club’s first major trophy since the departure of his old Chelsea teammate Makelele. His second season did not result in any more silverware bar the Spanish Super Cup, but in 2009 Robben had a “good relationship” with head coach at the time Manuel Pellegrini and was enjoying the “best pre-season” of his career.<\/p>\n

But then Perez was re-elected after three years away and Real Madrid<\/span> “spent so much money,” as Robben later explained to AS<\/a>, “that they told us they needed to make some back from sales.”<\/p>\n

Four years after the resulting move to Bayern Munich<\/span>, Robben achieved something Real Madrid<\/span> have never done during the Champions League era by winning the treble. But there is one big reason Los Blancos<\/em> probably do not regret selling Robben, and his name is Cristiano Ronaldo, the club’s all-time record goalscorer, winner of five Ballon d’Or awards and as many Champions Leagues, a competition in which he has scored more goals than anyone ever (128).<\/p>\n

\n

ON THIS DAY: In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo was presented to a record-breaking 80,000 fans at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u after signing for Real Madrid for \u00a380m.<\/p>\n

438 games. 450 goals. pic.twitter.com\/pqHoTI6IUm<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) July 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n