Not too many players have adorned both Arsenal and Real Madrid’s club colours in the past.
The most famous recent example is of course Martin Odegaard who made the switch from the Santiago Bernabeu to Arsenal in 2021 following a successful loan spell.
Before that, Dani Ceballos was also loaned from the Spanish capital to north London, a player who was crucial for Mikel Arteta in his first few years at the club.
In fact, Arteta begged Arsenal to re-sign Ceballos on loan for a second season, a request they eventually granted.
And the loans didn’t stop there – throwing it back to Arsene Wenger’s time in charge of the club, Arsenal sealed an audacious loan which saw the late Jose Antonio Reyes swap places with Julio Baptista in 2006.
Baptista arrived on a season-long deal, making 35 appearances for the Gunners in total and scoring 10 goals.
Julio Baptista’s blockbuster loan from Real Madrid to Arsenal
Of course, the most memorable of those matches was a 6-3 victory away to Liverpool at Anfield in a 2007 League Cup quarter-final, a game in which Baptista netted four goals from left-wing.
Baptista was playing in a front three with Theo Walcott and Jeremie Aliadiere and took Merseyside by storm that evening, a performance which will live long in Arsenal’s history books.
Although, after completing his season at Arsenal on loan, Baptista was denied the chance to sign for the Gunners permanently, something the Brazilian still regrets.
Speaking to Mail Sport in 2020, Baptista said that he left Arsenal in his ‘best moment’, when he was just starting to adapt to London life.
Baptista said: “I left the club at my best moment. I had adapted to the city of London and my level of English had improved considerably.
“The bad thing is that I was there on loan and in the end Arsenal was unable to agree a permanent move for me because they couldn’t afford Real Madrid’s asking price.”
Why didn’t Arsenal keep Julio Baptista?
At the end of Baptista’s loan in 2007 it was simply reported at the time that Arsenal had decided against a permanent transfer, despite the striker’s own conclusion that it was down to the Gunners’ finances.
Speaking to Marca back then, Baptista said: “Arsenal have told me they are not able to buy me and so all I can do is return to Real Madrid.”
Of course, that was an interesting development given it was also reported back in 2005 that Arsenal made as many as four bids to sign Baptista before he joined Real Madrid from Sevilla.
So perhaps it was a case of Wenger not being so convinced about the striker’s ability to succeed in the Premier League once he had him there in front of him in training.
Either way, Baptista managed to create quite the highlight reel during his time in north London, a player the ‘streets won’t forget’, as they say.
