The least successful players signed by Real Madrid in the month of January have been listed in order of their poor performances.
Real Madrid's worst signings of January
Nogoom Masrya ranks some of the very worst
When the quick transfer window arrives, there is a shortage of chances to locate suitable players for the remaining months of the season. Even though Real Madrid conducts most of their transactions and secures significant players during the summer, the club has also had some absurd signings during January.
5- Lucas Silva
Lucas Silva had a difficult period while playing for Real Madrid.
Lucas Silva was a highly regarded young footballer in Brazil and made an impression that led to him being transferred to Real Madrid for a fee of €13 million in January 2015.
The midfielder was not successful when playing at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium and was loaned out at the end of the 2015/16 season. He only played for a total of 424 minutes.
Following a disappointing period at Marseille, the Brazilian player went back on loan to his previous club Cruzeiro in January 2017. He stayed with them until the end of the 2018/19 season, when his contract was terminated by Los Blancos.
4- Ze Roberto
You may recognize Ze Roberto as someone who provided many assists in the Bundesliga, but earlier on he didn’t do so well while playing for Real Madrid.
In January 1997, the club made a risky investment of €9 million on a young soccer player from Portugal. However, despite playing in 15 La Liga matches, he only managed to provide one assist and failed to score any goals. As a result, he was loaned out to Flamengo after only 12 months with the club.
Upon completion of the 1997/98 season, Roberto returned from Brazil and was quickly transferred to Bayer Leverkusen, where he thrived and eventually secured a transfer to Bayern Munich.
3- Rodrigo Fabri
Real Madrid wasn’t discouraged by Roberto’s misfortunes and returned to Portuguesa in January 1998 to acquire the young Rodrigo Fabri.
Fabri scored a goal for Brazil in three matches before joining Los Blancos. However, unlike Roberto, he never got the chance to even play for Real Madrid.
He worked for the Spanish giants for five years and was loaned out five times before eventually moving permanently to Atletico which is located in the same city. He made his debut in La Liga while playing for Atletico.
2- Antonio Cassano
Different Italian fan bases have positive memories of Antonio Cassano, but the fans of Real Madrid have an unfavorable opinion of him.
The ex-Italian football player became a member of Los Blancos during the middle of the 2005/06 season but had completed his 29th game prior to the conclusion of the ensuing season due to controversies outside the field that stained his tenure in Madrid.
Although he managed to score shortly after his first appearance and performed adequately while playing, problems with his weight resulted in fines from the team. Additionally, when he showed disrespect towards his former manager Fabio Capello, he faced a suspension.
Cassano was on loan at Sampdoria for the entire 2007/08 season before finalizing the transfer to the club for the 2008/09 campaign.
1- Julien Faubert
In the middle of the 2008/09 season, Julian Faubert was transferred loan to Real Madrid from his original club West Ham, which was considered an extremely strange move.
The Frenchman had been highly regarded in his youth, but his career began to decline while playing for the Hammers, after a successful stint with Bordeaux where he scored and earned his only cap for the French national team.
Due to his good reputation and impressive skills, he was granted a six-month loan to Los Blancos. He only played for a total of 54 minutes in two matches, but he managed to perform in an unexpected way.
Faubert provided an equal amount of noteworthy moments for others to turn into memes as he did for playing for the team. On one occasion, he completely forgot to attend training and on another, he nodded off on the bench for substitutes.
