10 Players You Didn't Know Real Madrid Almost Signed

8. Oscar

One of the standout images of the recent World Cup is of a baby-faced Brazilian weeping into the arms of his captain, following their shameful desolation at the hands of Germany. That tousle-haired boy was the 22 year old Oscar, who just moments before had blotted Manuel Neuer€™s immaculate record with the mother of all consolations. One of the few shining lights of that World Cup, Oscar has provided genius and frustration in equal measure during his short career both on the international stage and at club level at Stamford Bridge. However, were it not for the slightest of interventions in the summer of 2012, Oscar might never have found his way to London after all.

''A month before signing for Chelsea, I was very close to doing so with Real Madrid as Mourinho said he wanted me. Before the game (against Denmark), there were talks with Madrid, but they had the playmaker position well covered. After that, I signed for Chelsea. €˜€™ €“ Oscar, November 2013.

Presumably, Oscar heeded the same warnings signs to his career that Kagawa spotted, in the unflinching Mesut Ozil. With the German maestro at the peak of his powers, providing assist after assist for the lethal Cristiano Ronaldo, the progress of Kagawa and Oscar would surely have been stunted, picking up splinters on the Bernabeu bench. In the end, it worked out well for the frustrated Mourinho, as he soon joined the Brazilian €˜trequartista€™ in West London within a year. Signalling his complete faith and trust in the player, sentiment was banished as Mourinho went against the grain and began to omit 12/13 Player of the Year Juan Mata in favour of the boy he almost tempted to the Bernabeu a year earlier.