Stars turned down the offer to join Real Madrid

Being one of the most successful clubs on the planet and with an alumni that reads like a who’s-who of world football, it seems ludicrous that anyone would want to turn away an opportunity to don the famous white shirt of Real Madrid.

But still, it does happen. In spite of the huge global fanbase, countless millions, and assurances of glory, Los Blancos have been known to have players simply decline their offers. For some it’s the right decision, but for others it’s a wasted opportunity that their careers never quite recovered from.

Andre Gomes: The recent frustration for Florentino Pérez with the former Valencian player choosing to move to his biggest rivals, Barcelona after what appeared to just be a matter of agreeing which players would move as part of the deal.

Although Andre Gomes signed for Barcelona in the summer 2o16 for 50 million euros, Valencia’s sports director Jesus Garcia Pitarch admitted that Real Madrid were close to bagging the Portuguese midfielder.

Ivan Rakitic: Luka Modric’s recommendation to Ivan Rakitic to come to Real Madrid should have been enough for the latter to up sticks from Seville to the Spanish capital.

Modric’s reasons for this were well founded: Rakitic had just come off the back of a man of the match performances in the Europa League final, alongside a place in UEFA’s team of the tournament to go with 15 goals and 17 assists. Such figures caught the attention of both Madrid sides as well as interest from Liverpool and Manchester United.

Rakitic later confirmed of Modric’s attempt to choose Real over everyone else: “Before, when I was at Sevilla, he did. It would be more difficult now.”

Undeterred by any potential problems, Real attempted to poach Rakitic from their bitter rivals, attempting to emulate their capture of Luis Figo 15 years previously. Officials from the club phoned Rakitic’s representatives to try and table a deal but the player himself flatly rejected such an offer.

Luis Suarez: Having already tried and failed to poach Neymar away from Barcelona’s noses, Real Madrid wanted to make sure to not repeat the same mistake a year later when Luis Suarez sought a move away from Liverpool and all the vilification that came attached to him following an incident where he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, which subsequently landed him a three-month ban from all football activity.

On the field, his exploits the previous season saw him secure the Golden Boot with 31 goals in 33 Premier League, as the Merseysiders came tantalisingly close to winning their first top flight title in 24 years. Off the field, though, in the aftermath of what happened in Brazil, he felt unfairly treated by the English press who he felt didn’t judge him as a player, whilst also hinting he could play elsewhere.

Probed more on this by an Uruguayan radio station, the subject turned to interest from Real Madrid, to which Suarez responded: “To say no to Madrid would be difficult and more so because of the team they have.”

However, he later revealed Barcelona’s support for him after the incident as a crucial factor in his decision to move there: “There were possibilities to join Real Madrid but when I hear Barcelona were interested, I didn’t hesitate for a moment.”

Neymar: The attacking trios of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez for Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale are among the prime reasons why El Clásico is as great a rivalry now as it has ever been. But as has been seen on this website, Ronaldo could’ve easily snubbed Madrid for Catalonia, whilst Neymar’s future, according to reports, lay as a star of Los Merengues rather than part of the aforementioned Barça triumvirate.

At the age of 14, Neymar left Brazil in order to have a trial with Real Madrid. In his own words: “It seemed the Real Madrid dream is a reality.” Unfortunately, doubts about his potential impact in such a star-studded squad saw the young Brazilian return home but Real and his eventual first club Santos kept in touch, suggesting that any move would be an inevitability at some point.

As he made waves with his talent with Santos, European clubs took notice of this, and in 2013, he rejected a return to Real in favour of a move to Barcelona. In a twist to the saga, his agent, Wagner Ribeiro, criticised the decision of Neymar’s father to take him out of Madrid and back to Brazil, against the player’s wishes.

Lionel Messi: The idea that someone would reject Real Madrid once would be crazy. To reject them twice is unthinkable. Whoever rejects them three times surely must be classed as insane. Though if you are the world’s best player playing for an all-conquering Barcelona sides, winning trophy after trophy in a relentless cycle, along with numerous personal awards, then OK, that is acceptable.

The first attempt was made when Cristiano Ronaldo was reportedly on the verge of a transfer to Manchester City in 2011. Unfazed by the rejection and equally worried with Ronaldo’s non-committal to a new contract, Florentino Perez’s allegedly instructed Real officials to make a new approach to Messi. Once again, the officials were told: “thanks for the offer but Leo isn’t moving.”

Still, Perez refused to relent in his desire to claim the 5-time Ballon D’Or’s signature. Motivated this time by Barça’s utter dominance of Real domestically and Europe, the president sent another executive to try and coax Messi away from the side, who had just recently won the treble. For a third time, the answer came back unequivocally: ‘no!’.

So, unfortunately, the chance to see Messi and Ronaldo work in the same team, seems destined to only be present in FIFA Ultimate Team’s and in our dreams.