It would seem that every star player that has emerged over the last 15 years has played for either Real Madrid or Barcelona at some point in their careers. Nistelrooy, Robben, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Huntelaar and Seedorf to name a few. And these are only the Dutch players which is quite ridiculous. Another point to note is that these players had their best years in other clubs which creates the question if Real splash the cash just for the sake of recruiting the star players instead of having a long term goal in mind. Since we are talking about Spain lets list some Barcelona recruits as well. Frank and Ronald De Boer, Kluivert, Reizeger, Zenden, Cocu, Davids and Overmars have all played for Barcelona and are also Dutch. The point I am trying to make here is that if we simply just list players from a single country, it is easy to see the massive number of players who have played for the two clubs when we include other countries.
The core of this post is going to hinge about the players that have departed or will potentially depart for Spain from England. The earliest instance that I can recall is Steve McManaman who left Liverpool for Real Madrid during the late 90's. However, the biggest transfer from England to Spain would be David Beckham during the 2003/2004 season. That was soon followed by Michael Owen the following season. Owen was not able to stamp his authority in Spain whereas Beckham will always be regarded as a 'Galactico' regardless of his performances. The greatness of Beckham is ingrained in the popular culture and no amount of under par performances will tarnish that. At a point during the 2004/2005 season, Real had players such as Roberto Carlos, Raul, Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, Cassillas and Owen. Perhaps the most glittering phase for the Galacticos, they failed to perform domestically as well as in Europe.
Arjen Robben left Chelsea for Real Madrid in 2007 at the peak of his career. Some would rightly argue that Robben reached his peak last year at the age of 31. But Robben was already a star when he left Chelsea. After staying in Real for 2 years he departed for Bayern Munich where he won the league, cup and Champions League. In 2009, Christiano Ronaldo moved to Madrid having won the premier league player of the year title more than once. That started a common trend. In 2013, player of the year, Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real and similarly in 2014, player of the year Suarez left Liverpool for Barcelona. Not only is this depriving the premier league of its best players but also greatly weakening sides such as Spurs and Liverpool. If we correlate these departures to the performance of English clubs in Europe, one can clearly see the point I am trying to make. Chelsea are the only team to have performed decently in the Champions League, whereas teams such as Manchester City, Spurs, United, Arsenal and Liverpool have struggled in recent times. There is a point I made in a previous post that English clubs dominated the European scene during the 2005-2010 time frame with Chelsea, Liverpool, United and Arsenal reaching the quarters, semis and even finals on a regular basis.
There are other players who need a mention. Players like Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Thomas Vermaelen left Arsenal for Barcelona leaving the Gunners in a weakened state. However, the Gunners have had sort of a rejuvenation over the last two seasons. Fabregas is now back in England with Chelsea and has already won the premier league title. Eidur Gudjohnsen left Chelsea for Barca in 2006 but that was not as consequential as some of the other transfers that I have mentioned. David de Gea of United, and the best premier league goal keeper of the season, is bound for Real during the summer with a contract apparently in place. As a result, United's best player and the main reason for their rejuvenation this season is gone.
When we look back at some of these players, they were the heartbeat of the teams they left. That has created an image that Real and Barca are the absolute pinnacles a player can reach which is wrong. That fact is proven by loyal players such as Steven Gerrard, John Terry, Ryan Giggs, Frank Lampard, Jamie Carragher, Tony Adams and more. The goal of a player should ideally be to help their current club, improve as a player and try to win as many trophies as possible. Simply going to Spain, resulting in a huge payroll, is not the answer. It will be interesting to see if Eden Hazard, the current premier league player of the year, will look at potential offers from Spain. Having recently signed a new 5 year contract at Chelsea, winning the league and cup titles, and with Jose Mourinho at the club, it is difficult to see why Hazard would leave for Real or Barca. Chelsea will only improve next year and with Real stuttering to the end of this season, it might not be a clever decision for Hazard to head their way. Him deciding to stay at the club could provide an example for future players and help strengthen the pedigree of the premier league.
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