10 Players Who Probably Regret Joining Real Madrid
8. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Three words sum up Huntelaars time in Madrid waste of time. Coming off the back of a prolific few seasons in Holland, in which he bagged 172 goals in 245 games, The Hunter was snapped up from Ajax in January for 20 million.
However, the hierarchy clearly werent thinking when calculating their 08/09 Champions League squad, with UEFA rules dictating that only one of new signings Lassano Diarra and Huntelaar would be allowed to play in the latter stages of the Champions League, having featured in the UEFA Cup for their previous sides. Unceremoniously omitted in favour of Diarra, the 20 million signing was dealt a confidence knock, but that didnt stop him notching eight goals in 13 league starts.
The Dutch hotshot failed to escape the summer cull of 2009, joining Dutch compatriots Wesley Sneijder in packing his suitcase for the Italian capital. With AC Milan pouncing for a reported fee of 15 million euro, it got worse before it got better for Huntelaar, scoring just seven goals in his lone season with the Milanese.
''You always know better with the benefit of hindsight, but you still don't know what the alternatives would have been. Real Madrid are a fantastic club. I really liked their attacking play, and I felt the club played very good football. I appreciated that. As people sometimes say, every rose has thorns,"
The Schalke 04 striker has stressed that he has no qualms in signing for the Madridistas. In many ways, its hard to argue. Having pulled on that famous white strip is every boys dream, and to be able to list Real Madrid among your past employers on the CV is an honour. However, one must think that if the coveted and potent Eredivisie topscorer had chosen a little more pragmatically and signed for a Premier League side more suited to his talents, then his career may have shone more brightly than it did.