10 Players Who Probably Regret Joining Real Madrid

9. Royston Drenthe

If ever there was a youth tournament to take heed from judging young talent too soon, it was the 2007 U-21 European Championships in Holland. With the Netherlands cruising to victory in comfortable fashion, the usual pundits were out in force, predicting X, Y and Z to have long-lasting careers for the peak powers of European football.

Maceo Rigters was just one example: having topped the goalscoring charts with four, before landing a Premier League transfer to Blackburn. Daniel De Ridder alongside him, secured a €˜dream move€™ to Birmingham City, readying himself to light up the English top-flight. Rigters and De Ridder are both 30 years old now, and their careers have petered out spectacularly to the extent that not even the most diehard supporters of that U-21 team will have any clue as to where they play their football now.

But the biggest fall from grace is reserved for the player of that tournament, an energetic winger with an explosive shot. With a physical stature well beyond his 20 years, and dreadlocks to shoulder length, Royston Drenthe provided an intimidating presence, and Madrid bought into the hype and shelled out £11 million to prize him from the reluctant clutches of Feyenoord.

Soon, it all became pretty apparent that somebody had made an error of judgement: deployed in his natural left-wing position, and at times left-back, Drenthe struggled to impose himself on a star-studded side, looking nervous on the ball, as fans grew frustrated. Booed by his own supporters, Drenthe grew exasperated at the situation, and was granted a reprieve, with a Premier League loan spell at Everton where eventually David Moyes grew weary of his unprofessionalism and told him to stay away from the club.

Finally, at 27 years of age, just a meagre seven years after the quickest signature of his life, Royston Drenthe has been stripped of his squad number at Championship side Reading. Surplus to requirements at an average Championship side, Drenthe will wonder how on earth he went from battling it out with Marcelo and Arjen Robben, to learning the grounding realisation that Hal Robson-Kanu is a better footballer than him.