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#1 Kaká
From: A.C. Milan
To: Real Madrid
Transfer fee: £60.3 million (€67 million)
Kaka was discovered by local club Sao Paulo FC at the age of 15 while performing for his school team Alphaville, in a local tournament.
In his debut season with the youth team, the Brazilian led his side to Copa de Juvenil glory. Kaka made into the senior squad in 2001 and bagged 12 goals in 27 appearances, triumphing the Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo, a football tournament between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro teams. Kaka made a total of 58 appearances for São Paulo, scoring 23 times.
After working wonders for his local club, the Brazilian gathered interests from many European giants with A.C. Milan being able to get his signature on papers for a measly £7.65 million (€8.50 million), a sum that was described by the then club owner Silvio Berlusconi as "peanuts".
Kaka made an instant impact on joining, he broke into the first team within a month of his recruitment playing as an attacking midfield player just behind Andriy Shevchenko, a familiar face on this list.
During 2006 and 2009 Kaka was named the Serie A player of the year twice, one of which was at the end of his debut season. He was pivotal in Milan's triumph of the Champions League in 2007 by being the top scorer and picked up the coveted Ballon d'Or for his accomplishments. He had struck an impressive 95 times for the Rossoneri in 270 games by the time he left in 2009.
The Fall
Kaka's downfall is one of the saddest tales in football history. The Brazilian was at an ultimate high in 2009 when Real Madrid decided to swoop him up for £60.3 million (€67 million), making him the second most expensive signing at the time.
Pirlo was quoted as saying-
"I remember how badly we took it as a team when Kaká left Milan. For two or three years he was the best player in the world. There was a point when teams just had no idea how to stop him."
Kaka's time at Madrid wasn't an utter failure. During his 4 seasons, Kaka netted the ball 29 times in 120 appearances and contributed to a goal every 0.5 games.
However, his 4 seasons at the Spanish capital were plagued with injuries, one of which kept him out for 5 months. The dominance of Barcelona at the world stage and the rise to power at Madrid of a certain someone named Cristiano Ronaldo meant Kaka couldn't forge out the legendary status for himself at Madrid, which he was destined to do.
What followed next were trips to Italy uniting with Milan, a brief stay at the USA with Orlando City, a loan spell at his boyhood club Sao Paulo FC, before finishing his career back in the USA with Orlando City.
It's saddening to see such an incredible player going through such rapid decline. It's hard not to imagine how happily things might have panned out had Kaka's Real Madrid career bloomed.
With that, we complete our list of 3 famous footballers who were ruined by 1 bad transfer.
