Real Madrid have always been a club of superstars. In the old days it was Alfredo Di Stefano, Emilio Butrageño and Hugo Sanchez. Today it is Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Karim Benzema. These stars have brought prestige and wealth to the Spanish club, with a study at Harvard indicating that Real Madrid "is one of the 20 most important brand names and the only one in which its executives, the players, are well-known.”
Brand recognition, however, does not guarantee that the team will play good football. In fact, one of the biggest criticisms that the merengues have come under is the fact that they don’t play fluid, attractive football like their eternal rivals F.C. Barcelona. This criticism went so far as to cost Fabio Capello’s job at Real even after he won the Spanish League in 2007.
In trying to solve their bad case of “ugly football” Real’s front office brought in an array of top class Dutch players in order to make amends with the fans and play beautifully. Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Royston Drenthe and Klaas Jan Huntelaar all came together at Real Madrid as the merengues suddenly turned into the naranjas.
In total, these players cost Real Madrid around $170 million. This huge investment was meant to restore the historic club back to the top of the Spanish football food chain, however, it only made the club lose money and the players lose value in the market.
Enter Florentino Pérez. He’s back at the club and he’s brought more galacticos. That means that many – if not all – of the Dutch players will need to look for another club to play for, since they will not get any playing time at Real.
The first to go was Huntelaar. The former Ajax striker was sold to A.C. Milan for a reportedly $21 million. Real acquired him from Ajax for $38 million. That means that in one year Huntelaar’s value fell $17 million. Keep in mind, this is the same guy who scored 76 goals in 92 appearances for Ajax.
Rafael Van Der Vaart was a teammate of Huntelaar in Ajax. He played five seasons with the Amsterdam club, was named team captain and scored 52 goals in 117 appearances. Ajax sold him to Hamburg – a transfer that had many people scratching their heads – for around $8 million. He finished the 2005 season as Hamburg’s top scorer and was also named team captain. He was eventually sold to Madrid for $18 million. He never really settled in the squad and was mostly used as a sub. As of now, he does not have a place in the squad and Real says he is for sale. The latest reports link him with Liverpool for around $17 million.
Another former Ajax man, Wesley Sneijder made the move to Real Madrid for $38 million. He made an instant impact at the club, scoring three goals in his first two games. His first season at the Bernabéu was successful, as he scored nine goals and won La Liga. He was injured in the following preseason, and he was in and out of the starting XI during the season. With the arrivals of the new galacticos Sneijder has been given the green light to seek out a new club. The latest rumors have him going to Inter for $21 million. In two years Sneijder’s value has gone down by $17 million, a combination of injuries and not enough continuity in the team.
Arjen Robben seems likely to stay, however, he will probably only be a sub. In that case, he has to be the world’s most expensive sub, with a price tag of $51 million. That is the only reason why he is staying; he is just too expensive for other clubs to try to go after him.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy is recovering from a serious knee injury and is on the tail end of his career. He came to Madrid in 2006 for $21 million and he was actually worth a lot of that amount because he scored 45 goals in 67 appearances, which is very close to the goals/appearance ratio he had when he was with Manchester United.
Royston Drenthe arrived in Madrid from Feyenoord for $20 million. The young player was converted from a winger to a defender and was also in and out of the starting XI. This season Drenthe seems to be the back up to Marcelo at the left back position.
As we have seen, Real Madrid have spent a great deal of money to buy these players, yet they end up sitting on the bench, injured or being converted into another position that is not natural to them. In total Madrid spent $170 million on these players, and in three years they have lost a total of about $50-$70 million dollars in value. These figures are speculative, based on projections and rumored sale figures.It is interesting to see these top class players make a big move to sign with the most successful club in Spain only to sit on the bench, get rusty and depreciate.
They can’t play beautiful football and they can’t do good business, not a good combination.
