10 Signings Real Madrid Want You To Forget About

Though he had several injury problems, Jonathan Woodgate had proven himself as one of the best centre-backs in England during his time at Leeds and Newcastle. In spite of that, it came as a big surprise when Real Madrid completed a £13.4m swoop for the England international in August 2004 (Woodgate was actually injured when he signed). 

The Middlesbrough native did not feature once for Real Madrid during his first season in Spain, and eventually played his first game in September 2005, going down in history as possibly the worst debut the footballing world had ever laid eyes on. 

25 minutes into the game versus Athletic Bilbao, Woodgate threw himself in front of an optimistic shot on goal from distance - heading it past the stranded Iker Casillas in the process. Then, in the 66th minute, the centre-back received a second yellow card and was given his marching orders. 

Things did get briefly better for him though and by early 2006 he was getting regular game time at the heart of the Madrid defence. However, further injury problems hindered what should have been a starry career, and he was loaned to his boyhood club Middlesbrough for the 2006/07 campaign. He left Madrid for a £7m fee the following year, signing a four-year deal with the North-East club before making the move to Spurs.

In 2007, Woodgate was voted Madrid's worst signing of the 21st century by Marca readers, receiving over 37% of the vote.