Club president
Florentino Pérez infamously poured scorn on Makélélé's footballing abilities and proclaimed that Makélélé would not be missed: “
We will not miss Makélélé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn't a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makélélé to be forgotten. [5] ” His opinion differed from that of players like Zidane, who remarked the following after Makélélé was sold and Beckham was bought:
[6]
“
Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine? ” In his autobiography, published in 2006, McManaman described Makélélé as the most important and yet least appreciated midfielder at Real. Retired former Real Madrid player and captain
Fernando Hierro also criticised Pérez for both Makélélé's departure and the manner of his departure, saying:
“
I think Claude has this kind of gift - he's been the best player in the team for years but people just don't notice him, don't notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew, the players all knew he was the most important. The loss of Makélélé was the beginning of the end for Los Galacticos... You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key and I think he is the same to Chelsea now. [7] ” For the past several years since Makélélé's departure, Real Madrid have failed to progress past the quarter-finals of the Champions League.