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The lure of playing for a club of Real Madrid's stature makes it easy for them to sign the biggest stars available on the block. The Spanish giants' history is replete with some of the greatest ever talents representing the fabled Blancos jersey.
However, not all of them have gone on to achieve glory at Real Madrid. There have also been a few who weren't given a chance to shine and ended up flourishing elsewhere.
Real Madrid's five biggest transfer mistakes:
Real Madrid have made plenty of transfer mistakes. Florentino Perez's Galactico project has resulted in several expensive flops and some talented young players completely ignored.
On that note, let's have a look at the five biggest transfer mistakes of Real Madrid:
#5 Selling Claude Makelele
Amongst the slew of transfer mistakes in the first Florentino Perez-era at Real Madrid, the greatest one remains the selling of Claude Makele.
The Frenchman was the backbone of Real Madrid's side in the early noughties, helping them win seven titles in three years. His position of the defensive midfield role also became colloquially known as 'the Makelele role.'
Yet, with more glamorous players in the squad taking plaudits, his performances went underrated, and Makele was allowed to leave for Chelsea in 2003 after a dispute with the Real Madrid president.
While Perez felt Makelele wouldn't be missed, that certainly wasn't the case. Los Blancos struggled in his absence and eventually went three seasons without a league title.
#4 Failing to spend Ronaldo's transfer money wisely
Cristiano Ronaldo was sold by Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018 for around €100 million. They sure used it to revamp the squad with some new signings, but most of them ended up being expensive flops.
Mariano (€22 million), Alvaro Odriozola (€30 million), Thibaut Courtois (€35 million), Vinicius Junior (€45 million), Andriy Lunin (€8.5 million) and Brahim Diaz (€17 million) were the players signed by Real Madrid that season.
Of these, only the Belgian shot-stopper, following a terrible first season, has become a first-team regular and shown his calibre.
Even though Mariano and Vinicius Junior are still at Real Madrid, they haven't done enough to prove their worth to the team, while the rest of the aforementioned players are out on loan.
#3 Overlooking young talents like Hakimi and Hernandez
Real Madrid had some incredibly talented young players such as Achraf Hakimi and Theo Hernandez in their books.
But right now, neither of them are at the club and are instead flourishing elsewhere.
Hernandez wasn't given enough chances to shine, something he recently revealed once again. He has since gone on to become a key player in a rejuvenated AC Milan team under Stefano Pioli.
The right-back has scored 12 goals and made 11 assists for the Rossoneri since last season, while Mendy is yet to fully justify his €48 million price tag at Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, Hakimi is fast becoming a world-class right-back at Inter Milan, scoring and assisting six times apiece and bringing a new dimension to the Nerazzurri attack.
#2 Spending €100 million for Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard's much-touted move to Real Madrid finally materialised in 2019 as the Chelsea legend arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu on a €100 million transfer.
Many great things were expected of him, but unfortunately, injuries have constantly hampered his spell with the Spanish giants so far.
Hazard has missed 50 of Real Madrid's 86 games since joining the club. He is now set to face another four to six weeks on the sidelines after only returning from a lengthy absence last weekend.
There's no doubting Hazard's quality as a player, and he still has time to turn things around. But at the moment, the 30-year old is turning out to be an expensive flop at Real Madrid.
#1 Letting Cristiano Ronaldo go
Whether it was a rift, arrogance or pure stupidity, Real Madrid's decision to sell Cristiano Ronaldo will go down in history as one of the worst by any club.
The last three years have produced enough evidence to suggest that Ronaldo's exit hasn't worked for both parties, especially Real Madrid.
While Los Blancos stare at the possibility of another trophyless season, Ronaldo's heartache in Europe continued after another disappointing exit from the Champions League.
According to the Portuguese ace, a breakdown of relationship with Perez precipitated his departure. But clearly, there have been no winners here.
