10 Players You Didn't Know Real Madrid Almost Signed

By Michael Ramsay /

Advertisement

5. Vicente Rodriguez

It€™s not often that a player becomes the subject of a £31 million bid from Real Madrid and gets released by Brighton Hove & Albion in the same career. However, that is exactly what Vicente can include on the CV, having spurned the opportunity to link up with the Spanish giants in 2004. Having missed out on the opportunity to sign the tricky winger at the age of 16, they returned with a £31 million offer following Valencia€™s dual UEFA Cup and La Liga success in the 03/04 campaign. Vicente has bamboozled La Liga defenders the length and breadth of the country, scoring an impressive 12 league goals under the tutelage of Rafa Benitez.
''I was at Euro 2004 in Portugal with the national side when Florentino Perez told me he wanted to sign me. He did not convince me as I just wanted to renew with Valencia and the president said no. Real Madrid made a ‚36 million offer for me, but Valencia turned the bid down. That was the end of the Madrid links.€™€™ €“ Vicente Rodriguez, May 2011.
Like Valencia, Vicente has never repeated anything close to the impressive exploits of the 03/04 season, as injuries took their toll on the rampaging winger. Soon, the likes of Valeron, Miguel Mista and Vicente were cast in the shadows, to make way for the new stars in David Villa and David Silva. The former Spanish international has never managed to score more than six league goals in any campaign over the last decade, and has consistently failed to register over 30 league appearances per season. At just 33 and without a club, Florentino Perez will breathe a sigh of relief at how close he came to signing an inevitable flop.