From Ronaldo in 2002 to James Rodriguez in 2014, Real Madrid have a proud history of spending big on the biggest talent at the World Cup. Here we predict the 2018 Galacticos...
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Nabil Fekir
You know you’ve witnessed a poor game when a substitute comes off the bench for the last 20 minutes and despite not scoring or creating a goal, still looks like he’s in a different class to everyone else on the pitch.
Such was the case with Nabil Fekir after he was summoned by French manager Didier Deschamps to try and do something to lift the cloud of mediocrity that had settled over the Luzhniki Stadium during the first scoreless draw of the World Cup, as Denmark held France.
Fekir’s introduction was like a ray of light piercing those clouds and helped to wake up anyone who had dozed off watching the game, whether in the stadium or at home.
Full of powerful direct running, with a great range of passing and vision unmatched by anyone around him, it was like watching an ex-pro stroll up to join you and your friends in a weekly five-a-side.
He’s available this summer too, with Liverpool having already agreed a fee for his services with Lyon before complications over an old knee injury saw the move either pulled or put on hold until after the World Cup, depending on who you believe.
Real have the chance to steal a march and a player here and Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas admitted last week: "The fact that things did not come to fruition with Liverpool aroused the interest of many clubs, not just Real Madrid and their new coach."
Whether or not he’s trying to drum up interest remains to be seen but a good game against Argentina in the round of 16 and Florentino Perez could be reaching for his cheque book.
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Ahmed Musa
The barometer giveth and it taketh away. Only a couple of days ago we were singing the praises of Leicester City’s forgotten man Ahmed Musa, who scored a brace of goals against Iceland and sealed a win that, at the time, appeared to put them on the brink of qualifying for the last 16.
Against Argentina however, he showed perhaps why Leicester wrapped him up with a return-to-sender stamp and sent him packing back to CSKA Moscow on loan after signing him from the Russian side in 2016.
It’s not that Musa was awful exactly. He battled hard and starved of supply did everything he could to keep Nigeria in the World Cup, including making Javier Macherano look every one of his 34 years.
It just wasn’t enough. Starved of supply and tightly marked, Musa wasn’t able to make a difference in his country’s biggest game for years and that’s not the kind of impulse signing that Real Madrid make.
It’ll be four years before Musa get another chance to catch the eye of Perez and 29, it looks like being too late. Still, CSKA Moscow seem happy with him.
