Hands down Real Madrid is the club that most of the players want to play. The never give up mentality which we just witnessed during their 2021-2022 UCL campaign, gives an inside story of how prestigious for players to play for Real Madrid. IF real Madrid offers a contract, there’s always a doubt the player will say no. However, There are certain Footballers Who Rejected Real Madrid. Maybe they would have their own reasons to do so. So let’s take a look at 10 Footballers Who Rejected Real Madrid.
Neymar Jr.
In 2013 Neymar was already a superstar known all over the world. Real Madrid was ready to pay Santos 40 million euros for the services of Neymar. But the Brazilian superstar was only going to leave Brazil if he was going to Barcelona. And he did go to Barcelona.
Francesco Totti
Totti is worshipped at Roma because of his loyalty, among other things. He was one of the best players in the world in his day, and that attracted offers from big clubs all around the world including Real Madrid. But just like Gerrard, he decided to stay loyal.
Steven Gerrard
It was Stevie Gerrard himself who revealed in an interview back in 2014 that Real Madrid approached him years ago. But he turned them down because of the connection he shared with Liverpool. He ended up becoming a forever Liverpool and Premier League legend.
Luis Suarez
During the summer of 2014, Luis Suarez was bound for a move away from Liverpool as he had been linked with both Real Madrid and Barcelona. Unfortunately for him, his 2014 World Cup ended in a disaster after biting Giorgio Chiellini in a match, resulting in a lengthy suspension.
But that didn’t stop the two clubs from pursuing Suarez’s services, although he snubbed Madrid for Barcelona due to their support following the incident. He would later go on to indicate that it had always been his dream to play for Barcelona, which made it an easy decision for him.
Marco Verratti
Verratti had been at the top of his game in France, and a lot of clubs were trying to sign him for a long time. One of those clubs was Real Madrid. The Spanish giants really wanted to get Verratti to leave PSG, but the Italian turned them down.
Paul Pogba
When Pogba was one of the most wanted talented midfielders in the world at Juventus, Real Madrid who were managed by Zidane at the time wanted to bring him in. Surely, Pogba is sometimes left thinking about what could have been if he had made his way to Madrid.
Ivan Rakitic
Rakitic is another player who rejected Real twice. During his first spell at Sevilla, he quickly became the target for many big clubs including Barcelona and Real Madrid.
He ended up signing for Barca. However, two years later, Real Madrid once again approached him and attempted to use his Croatian teammate Luka Modric to convince him to make the jump. But once again, Rakitic preferred to remain with Barcelona.
Roy Keane
In 2005, Roy Keane was one year shy of his eventual retirement when he received an offer to join Real Madrid. Keane had an amazing career at United, winning several trophies.
But that really illustrious career came to a pretty rancorous end when his falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson forced him to leave the club. He was approached by Real Madrid but refused to join them.
Kylian Mbappe
We all had the impression that Kylian would eventually sign with his dream club, and we all assumed it would happen the next season. He did, in fact, say yes to Real Madrid, according to sources. He ultimately decided to extend with PSG nonetheless.
Leo Messi
Yes, you have read right. Real Madrid not once, but on three different occasions tried to sign the number one player of this generation. Perez himself admitted on Messi’s departure that how he tried to sign Messi from Barcelona.
But Lil magician always declines the offer politely. Barcelona too stated that Real Madrid out an offer to buy Messi’s service but the board considered this as a hate crime against his audience. hence it never happened.
