10 Real Madrid Rejects Who Made It Big Elsewhere

7. Jose Callejon

Yet another Real Madrid academy graduate who was forced to look elsewhere for first-team football, Granada-born Jose Callejon signed for Espanyol in 2008 without a solitary top-flight run-out.

At 21 years of age, he and twin Juanmi left Madrid together. His brother joined island side Mallorca, but ended up a journeyman footballer in Greece, Bolivia and Saudi Arabia.

Jose, on the other hand, cemented a starting role on the wing under Mauricio Pochettino over a productive three-year spell that instigated a dream switch back to his spiritual home Real in 2011.

But, he became just another example to back up the theory that you should never go back, with his influence largely coming from the substitutes’ bench.

Two seasons later, he was snapped up by Serie A side Napoli and quickly ascended to the level of indispensable due to his mazy runs and expert finishing on the right of their attack.

Callejon has resisted several attempts to wrench him away from southern Italy, while racking up double figures in both goals (14) and assists (12) for the first time ever last term. He also nabbed his maiden senior international call-up in 2014.