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In the April of 2010, Arsene Wenger commented that he would be interested in players that Real Madrid didn’t want as some of them proved to be heavily successful. It is quite true if you look at the recent past.
Ever since Florentino Perez started building his Galacticos v 2.0, Real Madrid has let go off some extraordinary players. Their performances have come back to haunt them. So, here is a look at the top 5 Real Madrid rejects.
5. Gabriel Heinze
After Heinze lost his left back spot to Patrice Evra in Manchester United, he was picked up by Real Madrid. It was quite a surprising move to many.
He stayed at Real for two seasons and fared decently. But, his pace was not enough for the Spanish giants as he moved to Marseille in 2009. He made 58 appearances for the French club and scored some vital goals. In his very first year at Marseille, the team won both the League as well as the Cup.
He scored a vital free kick against his former team PSG to help win Marseille the derby game. Now, he has moved to Italian giants Roma. Heinze surely has found his feet after moving away from Real Madrid.
4. Robinho
The heavily talented Brazilian star moved to Real Madrid from his boyhood club Santos where he achieved great success. Robinho was very good in Real Madrid too, playing more than 100 games and scoring 25 goals. In 2007-08 season, he was even nominated for the Ballon d’Or honor.
However, new contract talks failed to materialize and Robinho moved to Manchester City as the first player of the Abu Dhabi invasion.
His first season in Manchester was successful, but due to injuries he fell down the pecking order at Eastlands and moved back to Santos on loan. The next season, he was sold to Italian giants AC Milan where he, along with Pato and Ibrahimovic, began a new revolution.
With 42 appearances and 16 goals so far, Robinho has helped AC Milan to win its first Serie A since 2003. He most certainly is achieving greater success after leaving Real Madrid.
3. Rafael van der Vaart
Ever since moving to Real Madrid from Hamburg, Rafael van der Vaart was never fully utilized. He was mostly used as a substitute to provide some impact by Juande Ramos. Still, he achieved good success at the Bernabeu.
In 2009, it was widely speculated that he would leave the club. But after the departures of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Klass-Jan Huntelaar, there was enough room for van der Vaart in the Real Madrid squad. He also got a fair share of games due to Kaka’s injuries.
Still, van der Vaart was never a part of Real’s long term plans and he moved on in the final hours of August 31, 2010 to Tottenham Hotspur. He had an immediate impact on the squad and was even named player of the month for October.
He ended the season scoring the most goals and providing the most assists for Tottenham.
2. Arjen Robben
Arjen Robben arrived at Real Madrid from Chelsea on 2007. He had a great impact on his first season at Real as they won the league with few games to spare. He also scored in the 4-1 demolition of Barcelona which turned out to be the last game of that season.
The next season too, he had a major role at the club starting 35 times. At the end of the season, Perez started building Galacticos v 2.0 with Ronaldo and Kaka coming in. Robben felt threatened and wanted to leave the club.
Robben claimed that he was forced to leave the club and was sold to Bayern Munich.
At Bayern, he enjoyed tremendous success. His style of football was refreshing in Germany and he, along with Frank Ribery, formed the feared wing partnership dubbed as “Rob-ery”.
Robben famously defeated Manchester United in the quarter finals of the Champions League that season and then went on to lose to Inter Milan in the finals of the tournament, almost single-handedly pulling the lacklustre Bayern team through.
He has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, FIFA Puskas award and the UEFA best midfielder of the year since leaving Real Madrid. The Spanish team must be regretting letting him go.
1. Wesley Sneijder
When Real Madrid announced that they no longer have plans for Wesley Sneijder, Jose Mourinho pounced on the offer and got his man for a mere $15 million and it has proved to be the bargain of the decade.
A day after signing with Inter, Sneijder made his debut for the club in an impressive 4-0 win over AC Milan. So far, Sneijder has made 89 appearances for Inter scoring 17 goals and providing 30 assists.
Most impressively, he was a major part of Inter Milan’s Champions League win in 2009, providing a crucial assist to Diego Milito. He also scored the all important goal against Barcelona in their 3-1 semi final triumph over the defending champions. He was famously dubbed as the “Sniper” by the Italian media for delivering pin point passes.
Sneijder continued his red hot form with his national team as he, along with Robben, led Netherlands to final of the World Cup 2010. Everything worked out well for Sneijder after leaving Real Madrid. He has become one of the finest footballers of the world.
