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The World Cup is a tournament where the world's best players come together and fight it out for the right to call themselves the best. It is a competition where stars are born. It is the only tournament where unknown players become stars, stars become legends and legends become demigods.
It is also a place where players are often remembered for their missed penalties or chances much more than the breath-taking goals they have scored or stopped from conceding. The phrase ‘putting yourself in the shop window’ was coined exactly with the FIFA Football World Cup performances in mind
The last five World Cup's have seen Real Madrid going all out to capture one of the biggest and brightest players to star for their nations in the World Cup.
Let's take a look at each of the five high profile players who were signed by Real Madrid based on their performance in each of the last 5 World Cups.
Will it be the turn of a new World Cup star to don the shirt of the Los Blancos this year?
#5 Robert Jarni (Coventry City to Real Madrid), 1998
1998 World Cup in France saw Croatia defying all the odds and entering the semifinals of the World Cup only to lose to eventual champions France, with a team containing stars like Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki, Igor Stimac and Robert Jarni with all of them being part of the 1987 FIFA World Youth football Championship won by the Yugoslavian U-21 team.
Jarni was a diminutive wing-back who loved to get forward and possessed a thunderous left-foot. He was 30 and was an already established full-back playing for Real Betis in 1998 after starting his football journey in Hajduk Split in 1986.
An exciting, progressive full-back, whose marauding runs up the touchline became synonymous with Croatia’s style of play, Jarni played in all of Croatia's 7 matches at the World Cup and helped them win the Bronze medal in their first ever World Cup appearance and scored his only ever goal for Croatia, with a trademark left foot piledriver in a 3-0 victory against Germany, catching the eye of several of Europe's biggest clubs.
In what turned out to be one of the most bizarre transfers ever Jarni signed for Coventry City from Real Betis only to be signed by Real Madrid a week later.
Jarni only lasted for 1 season at the club and after making 27 appearances and scoring a goal he moved on to Las Palmas. He played 81 times for Croatia and after retirement, he went on to play futsal for his national side before becoming a coach.
#4 Ronaldo (Inter Milan to Real Madrid), 2002
Before Cristiano Ronaldo, there was another Ronaldo who terrorized defenders with his pace and trickery. 1994 World Cup winner, at the age of 17, the Brazilian Golden Boy of 1998 World Cup and 2-time FIFA Player Of The Year Ronaldo came into the 2002 World Cup on the back of 2 injury-ravaged seasons with Inter Milan after twice injuring his knee.
Il Fenomeno as he was called quashed all doubts about his fitness and quality with the goal in the 50th-minute in the very first match of the 2002 World Cup as Brazil won 2-1 against Turkey. The next 6 matches saw Ronaldo scoring in 5 of the 6 matches as he ended the 2002 World Cup with 8 goals and winning the Golden Boot and World Cup in the process.
This superb performance led to Real Madrid signing the 25-year old forward. Ronaldo played 177 matches for Real Madrid and scored 104 goals for the Los Blancos in 5 years at the club. Ronaldo played 98 times for Brazil and scored 62 goals for the Selecaos.
#3 Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus to Real Madrid), 2006
The 2006 World Cup saw one of the greatest Azzurri defence to ever play in the World Cup with Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Grosso in the full-back roles and one of the greatest centre-back pairing ever in football history with Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro in the middle.
Impeccable when breaking up attacks, perfect in terms of anticipation and solid in the air, at just 5 foot 9 inches tall Cannavaro wasn't built to be one of the world's greatest centre back to grace the game of football and certainly never expected to be named the world's best player.
The Azzurri defence marshalled by Cannavaro only yielded two goals throughout the tournament with one of them being an own goal, equaling the record set in 1998 by France. His impregnable performances for Italy in the 2006 World Cup earned him the nickname "Muro di Berlino" or the Berlin Wall.
The World Cup celebrations were cut short for the Azzurri as the reigning Seria A champions and captain Cannavaro's club, Juventus, were booted from the Italian top division and stripped of their 2 titles for its role in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.
With an option either to stay with the club in the Seria B or transfer, Cannavaro opted for the easier route as he along with Juventus Fabio Capello joined Real Madrid with El Capitano been given the number 5 shirt previously worn by Zinedine Zidane.
Fabio Cannavaro played 106 matches for Los Blancos scoring 1 goal while winning 2 La Liga titles and 1 Spanish Super Cup.
#2 Mesut Ozil (Werder Bremen to Real Madrid), 2010
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa saw a new, young and vibrant German team taking the pitch with a few experienced players. With the major omission of Michael Ballack, a certain 21-year old named Mesut Ozil was tasked with the burden of carrying the German midfield along with Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The quality of the player was very evident from the beginning of the tournament. The impact of a player that has as much pace and creativity as Ozil was so much that the team played because players shaped the side's formation and not the other way around with Ozil being the fuel and catalyst for everything that happens on the attack for the Germans.
Ozil always seemed to be on the ball when Germany needed a good decision on a counterattack in each of the game, Pushing the attack and never giving up on an attack which became the killer instinct is something that many of the other teams didn't have in this tournament which finally led to the 21-year old being nominated for Golden Ball.
3rd place World Cup finish coupled with being ranked as the first in assists in major European and domestic competitions with 25 garnered Mesut Ozil a £16.6 million transfer to Real Madrid from Werder Bremen.
#1 James Rodriguez (AS Monaco to Real Madrid), 2014
2014 World Cup in Brazil saw South American nation Colombia qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 with Radamel Falcao in the form of his life as he scored for fun to take his team to the World Cup.
But as destiny would have it Falcao missed the flight to Brazil as he injured his knee keeping him out of action for at least 6 months. With their main go-to man, Colombia was looking for someone else to take up the mantle and guide Colombia to the World Cup.
Then lesser known 23-year old AS Monaco attacking midfielder took it upon himself as he scored 6 goals in 5 matches and guided his team to their first-ever quarterfinal appearance along with him securing the Golden Boot as well as being third in the Golden Ball.
Los Blancos, on the lookout for a new Galactico, found the Colombian breakout star fitting their bill as they signed him on a 6-year deal after AS Monaco accepted a £71 million bid.
