When Real Madrid craves a player wearing the colors of another club, almost no amount of money will get in its way.
Consider some of the market-shaking purchases of the past 20 years: Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, David Beckham and Gareth Bale.
And then consider the Spanish giant’s most expensive transfer during its glorious history was none of the above.
Last month, in a thunderous move aimed at rebounding from failures last season on the domestic and international fronts, Real bought Belgian forward Eden Hazard from Premier League side Chelsea. The initial price was $113 million, the same fee Los Blancos received when they sold Ronaldo to Italy’s Juventus last summer.