The mystery of Real Madrid s signings in 2005: Did they really buy the wrong person?

In the summer of 2005, Real Madrid signed Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen from Everton, a deal that should have been a pragmatic move by the Galaxy Battleship to strengthen the hardness of the midfield. However, many years later, a bizarre but convincing story emerged: Real Madrid may have bought the wrong person.

What they really want may be Gravesen's teammate - Lee Casley. The seemingly absurd statement that the unsolved case caused by the twins is not groundless. At that time, Gravesen and Casley were like twins: both were bald, both were playing in the midfield, and their style of play was known for their fierceness.

Even Casley himself said half-jokingly: "Someone told me that Real Madrid actually wanted to sign me. I hope they were really wrong because we were so similar." The ironclad witness of head coach Moyes was their then head coach David Moyes. He has publicly stated many times that he firmly believes that Real Madrid has made a mistake.

"I always thought they wanted to sign Lee Casley," Moyes said. "They described the player they wanted was: good physical, able to intercept, and able to read the game's ball-handling midfielder. That guy was Lee, not Thomas."

In Moyes's view, Gravesen was like a time bomb, extremely unstable. Casley is more stable and tactical. "What Real Madrid seemed to need at that time was rationality, not more intuition." The facts of the Bernabeu's nightmare also seemed to confirm Moyes' statement. Graveson's career at Real Madrid is a disaster. It’s not his skills that people remember, but his famous conflict with Robinho on the training ground and his irritable temper that is hard to control.

When he received a call from Real Madrid, he even thought it was called by Atletico Madrid, which shows how unexpected the deal was. The story of

may be a microcosm of Real Madrid's slightly hasty signings in the post-Galaxy Warship era. But no matter the truth, it has become a ridiculous legend in the football world.

As Lee Casley and his wife joked: If Real Madrid really made a mistake, it would be the biggest mistake in football history!