Royston Drenthe back in Spain to join Third Division Racing Murcia
The former Real Madrid player has committed to sign for Racing Murcia. This will be the 33-year-old's 14th club of his career. His last club was a third tier side in Holland.
Royston Drenthe is back in Spain. The 33-year-old Dutch winger is now officially on the books with Racing Murcia, a club founded in 2013, who are currently in the Third Division of the Spanish league.
Drenthe signed for Real Madrid in 2007, after being proclaimed the best player at the European Under-21 Championships that summer. His career since then has been full of ups and downs - his most recent club was Kozakken Boys, who play in the third division in the Netherlands.
Well-travelled Drenthe
His career post-Madrid included brief spells in United Araba Emirates (with Baniyas), Turkey (Erciyesspor), England (Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Everton) and Russia (Spartak Vladikavkaz). In Spain, he also spent time with Hércules on loan from Real Madrid. In recent years, he has made the news more for issues off the field of play for economic problems and his struggles with alcohol. With Real Madrid, he won the league title and the Spanish Super Cup in 2008. He arrived at the Santiago Bernabéu on a 14 million euro deal from Feyenoord. With Los Blancos, he played 65 games and scored four goals.
Drenthe's signing is part of Racing Murcia's bigger plan to gain promotion to the Second Division B. Club president and owner, Morris Pagniello now has a star signing to lead his project. After announcing to fans the arrival of big name players (Samuel Eto'o was one who was considered), Joleon Lescott joined instead. Now with Drenthe, Racing Murcia's fans can dream of making the ascent to the next tier.