Kylian Mbappe next? He wouldn't be the first failed Galactico signing…

It has not been plain sailing for Kylian Mbappe since joining Real Madrid from PSG in the summer. He surely won’t be a failed Galactico like these seven, will he?

Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard made the journey from Chelsea legend and the best player in the Premier League to the worst signing in Real Madrid history. He was so good that Florentino Perez thought it was worth shelling out £105million when the Belgian was 28 and only had a year left on his contract.

On a positive note, this signing might have been a sliding doors moment for Perez, who has since been reluctant to spend big on players in their prime years, leaning towards free transfer agreements for players like Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba and Kylian Mbappe.

The Blues icon did become a Champions League winner during his time at Madrid but his contribution was minimal, appearing three times and only for eight minutes in the knock-out stage. His only start came in a shock home defeat to FC Sheriff, fittingly.

After a 2022/23 campaign with only 10 appearances, Hazard decided to call it a day on a wonderful playing career after a miserable few years in the Spanish capital. It really was a sad end for the former Belgium captain, who will unfortunately go down as the worst signing Real Madrid have ever made.

Kaka
Real Madrid went for it in the 2009 summer transfer window, breaking the world-record transfer twice, firstly on AC Milan legend Kaka and then on Cristiano Ronaldo.

He was unstoppable at Milan and the best player in the world for two or three years but we never really saw that at the biggest club in the world; Los Blancos were nearly men during the Brazilian’s time at the club and his stint in Madrid was hampered by injuries.

Between 2009 and his 2013 return to Milan, 2007 Ballon d’Or winner Kaka only won two major honours – due to Barcelona’s dominance under Pep Guardiola – and scored a measly five goals in the Champions League as Madrid failed to get over the semi-final hurdle.

People probably forget how incredible Kaka was in his prime and that is down to his underwhelming spell in Madrid. He only lasted four years and left before Madrid starting winning European Cups for fun.

James Rodriguez
Everything was set up perfectly for James to be the next truly great Galactico. He had just run the show for Colombia at the 2014 World Cup, scoring the most iconic goal of the tournament against Uruguay and providing a silly eight goal contributions in five matches.

Real Madrid snapped up the best young player in the world after the tournament in Brazil and gave him the No. 10 shirt. The expectations were monumental but the Colombian seemed to be relishing it. James was brilliant for the European champions in his first season, scoring 13 and assisting 13 in 29 La Liga matches.

James’ goal and assist record was very handy during his time at Madrid but his injury record was horrendous. His unreliability led to him barely contributing to Los Blancos’ Champions League success in 2015/16 and 2016/17 before being loaned out to Bayern Munich as Zinedine Zidane’s men made it three in a row.

As punishment for costing Real Madrid a boatload of money, James was sold to Everton ahead of the 2019/20 campaign. Since then, he has played for Olympiacos, Al-Rayyan, Sao Paulo and is now back in Spain with Rayo Vallecano.

Luka Jovic
After scoring 27 in 48 matches for Eintracht Frankfurt, Jovic was signed by Real Madrid for a whopping £55m. He scored three goals in 51 matches.

Madrid signed a plethora of strikers to compete with Karim Benzema and Jovic was one of many who ended up flat on their face in the Frenchman’s wake.

Benzema was hard to drop during the Cristiano Ronaldo days but it became impossible to usurp him following the Portuguese’s departure in 2019. His game reached another level, a Ballon d’Or-winning level, as he proved he was more than a Robin.

Jovic’s time playing in Benzema’s shadow was filled with misery. He was simply atrocious after being signed for a monstrous fee in the same summer Hazard joined. But Madrid did have a few hits that year, signing Rodrygo, Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy in an expensive window for Florentino Perez.

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Robinho
Robinho, like many before and after him, made his name at Santos in Brazil and was snapped up by one of the El Clasico giants. He was 21 years old when Madrid spent £20m on him, which was a bloody big fee back in 2005. He lasted five years in Spain before becoming the first signing of Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi era.

It was the sort of signing a club in Man City’s position would make, like a kid being given unlimited money in a toy shop. It was a sorry transfer for Robinho, who thought there was only one team in Manchester (the red one) and was expecting to become a Chelsea player. He spent 18 months at the Etihad before returning to Santos. He then made an obvious move to AC Milan, went back to Santos, played in China, Brazil, Turkey and back at Santos before retiring in 2020 having made zero appearances in his third spell due to it being a PR nightmare.

Like with James nine years later, Robinho was handed the No. 10 shirt by Madrid and many expected him to become the best player in the world. Dubbed the next Ronaldo, his time in Madrid wasn’t actually that bad. He scored and assisted plenty of goals but it is safe to say he never truly matched his potential.

Martin Odegaard
Odegaard is a different kind of failed Galactico as he was signed as a 16-year-old. Nevertheless, he joined as one of the most promising players of all time and was never able to establish himself at Real Madrid. Odegaard is now living up to the hype, but for Arsenal.

The Norwegian spent time on loan at progressively better clubs, representing Heerenveen and then Vitesse in the Netherlands, La Liga rivals Real Sociedad and finally Arsenal, before Mikel Arteta signed him permanently for £32m in a deal that was a masterstroke from the Gunners.

Again, it is perhaps a little harsh to include Odegaard given he was only a boy when Real Madrid bought him, but he was a Galactico-elect and never even got close to being crowned.

Nicolas Anelka
Nicknamed ‘Le Sulk’ by the time he was 20 and signed by Real Madrid from Arsenal, Anelka couldn’t hit a barn door in his early months at the Santiago Bernabeu. His first goal for the club came in the Club World Cup and he only found the back of the net twice in La Liga, scoring his first against Barcelona. Meanwhile, his only Champions League goals came in either semi-final leg against Bayern Munich. His scoring record was atrocious, but when he did score, it was usually in a big game.

Anelka did at least win the European Cup in his first year but he was a massively disappointing signing. He lasted one whole year in Madrid before going on to have more clubs than Tiger Woods.

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