Galactic… in another galaxy

Haaland has waited for Real Madrid, hoping to wear white next year, but has finally joined Manchester City. On the Paseo de la Castellana they would have liked the Norwegian to wait a little longer, one season specifically, so as not to cohabit from the first day with a Benzema with Ballon d’Or airs and an Mbappé who will land in the summer, they trust from the entity, as the big star of the next project. wanted to be galacticthat name that Florentino’s first Madrid (between 2000 and 2006) turned into a registered trademark, but his football will end up exposed in another galaxy, the sky blue of Guardiola. It is not the first time that a crack, for one reason or another, has been left behind by the white team, always eager to get hold of the most talented players in the world…

Ronaldinho

We start with a case very similar to Haaland: Ronaldinho. The Brazilian talent signed for Barça in 2003 in exchange for 27 million euros, but if Madrid had pulled the trigger, history could have been different. As with the Norwegian striker, they wanted to postpone the operation for a summer. Beckham was the mbappe of Florentino that summer. “Madrid has not addressed us yet and we are waiting”Roberto de Assis, brother and agent of Dino. Laporta, whose electoral promise was, curiously, Beckstook advantage of the tessitura and the rest is history.

Lewandowski

The following is another great goalscorer, the one who leads the way for Haaland: Robert Lewandowski. In the case of the Pole, you have to go back to the year 2014. That summer he came to Bayern for free, but He was one “yes” from Florentino away from landing at the Bernabéu. The president was captivated Lewy with his poker to the Spanish club in the 2013 Champions League, but he did not want to pay the penalty clause of 20 million that he had broken the agreement with the Munich team. That disbursement would have made Lewandowski, whose contract with the white team was revealed shortly after, his dream of playing for Madrid fulfilled. The potential signing of him has appeared in subsequent summers, without crystallizing.

Neymar

turn of a crack who did belong to Real Madrid. Neymar, although it was somewhat circumstantial, came to have a record with the white team in March 2006. In a document that AS had access to, it can be seen how the merengue entity processed the record of the talented 14-year-old Brazilian boy. He shared training with Carvajal or Sarabia During two weeks. It seemed that it was done, but Madrid did not want to risk paying 60,000 euros for someone so young and Ney returned to Brazil. Years later, a new battle with Barcelona that would end with the winger at the Camp Nou and in 2019, with the player already a shining star for PSG, the contacts were still very much alive. As in the previous cases, this Galactic showed his football in other galaxies.

Ribéry

In 2010, Franck Ribéry triumphed at Bayern and tried to argue with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo about their eternal duopoly. Cristiano himself, Kaká and Benzema had arrived the previous summer and the next one was set to be Ribéry’s, whose future seemed to be tinged with white. There was talk of a titanic transfer. The player himself recognized it in 2016: “My representatives negotiated with Madrid. Both they and Chelsea offered 80 million euros”. But a meal dynamited everything. “When Ribéry’s story at Bayern seemed to come to an end in 2010 because his agents had more or less sold him to Madrid, we invited him and his wife Wahiba to eat with us. Susi cooked halal especially for her. a wonderful evening, and around midnight Wahiba finally said: ‘Franck, we’re staying in Munich!’ narrated Uli Hoeness, former president of Bayern. And that’s how his ‘non-signing’ for Madrid was conceived…

David Villa

Another great soap opera with the white team involved took place in consecutive summers, but it was in 2009 when everything seemed done. Before Benzema arrived, the ‘9’ aimed to be David Villa. The gourd I was clear: “I just want to go to Real Madrid”. “I belonged to Valencia And I said I’d get out of there whenever they wanted. There were no circumstances to go to the Madrid at that moment. There had to be the will of the two clubs and that of the player and neither year of the two that there were negotiations ended up giving this situation “Villa explained in an interview with DjMario some time later. In 2010 it would be Barça who became the top scorer in the history of the National Team and Atleti would also enjoy his nose. Something that Madrid could never do. And it wasn’t for not trying.

A fax, a perennial wish, a non-aggression pact…

There are more cases in the recent past that surely appear in the memory of Real Madrid. David de Gea and the fax. The one that contained the necessary documentation to close the signing of the goalkeeper in 2015. He entered late, 28 minutes specifically after midnight, and that was the end of the De Gea case. Also another former athlete was very close to the neighboring club, Kun Agüero. In 2011, the Argentine wanted to fight for titles and was attracted to changing sides in the capital. Nevertheless, the non-aggression pact between Madrid and Atleti he frustrated the transfer of what would later be a City legend and would retire at Barça.

Nor can it be ignored Paul Pogba, a perennial pursuit that never turned into a hunt. Zidane was in love with the French midfielder, who came to United at the stroke of tickets, and that was the main problem in getting hold of him, the exorbitant amounts demanded from Old Trafford. It was tried in 2016, in 2019, in 2020, there were options in 2021…, but the dream of Zizou it never came true. It will be free in June, but the white midfield is well covered in a present key (CMK) and also in the future (Camavinga, Valverde, ¿Tchouaméni?). As always in these cases, they are all who are, but not all who are. Haaland has been the last to join the list.