Manuel Pellegrini's 'unbalanced' squad containing Ramos, Pepe, Cristiano, Kaka, Alonso

The summer of 2009 was one which changed the shape of football, albeit the impacts didn't necessarily manifest themselves until years later, as Florentino Perez embarked on a huge spending spree to rebuilt Real Madrid, yet it was one which Manuel Pellegrini felt left his squad unbalanced.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema were the three highest profile arrivals of Perez's first transfer window back at the club as president, whilst Pellegrini had been appointed as coach.

Despite the Chilean's words of criticism, he did actually enjoy a positive season in which he set a club record of 96 points and 102 goals, it just so happened that he was up against what is arguably the best Barcelona team in history.

"We scored 102 goals with an unbalanced squad and with Ronaldo injured for three months," Pellegrini explained in an interview with Movistar+

What killed any hope of continuity for Pellegrini was Champions League elimination at the hands of Lyon in the first knockout round.

When you take into account the arrivals of Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Esteban Granero and Ezequiel Garay, the total outlay in that summer was 258 million euros.

In terms of outgoings, players like Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar were disposed of, with the irony being that the first two would go onto face each other in the 2010 Champions League final.

Javier Saviola, Gabriel Heinze, Alvaro Negredo, Dani Parejo, Javi Garcia, Miguel Torres, Fabio Cannavaro and Michel Salgado all left too.

Therefore, the squad was composed like this:

Goalkeepers

Iker Casillas was the best goalkeeper in the world at the time, whilst his deputy was Champions League winner, Jerzy Dudek. Antonio Adan was third choice.

Defenders

Pellegrini had two right-backs at his disposal in Sergio Ramos and Arbeloa and four central defenders in Pepe, Raul Albiol, Garay and Christoph Metzelder.

Marcelo was the only recognised left-back, but Arbeloa's versatility ensured he could play on either side.

Midfielders

In the core area of the team, the former Villarreal coach had Alonso, Lassana Diarra, Granero, Fernando Gago, Mahamadou Diarra, Rafael van der Vaart, Guti and Royston Drenthe.

Forwards

It was in attack where Los Merengues had their star names, with the forward line essentially being five big names, which would have been six had Ruud van Nistelrooy not missed most of the first half of the season through injury.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain and Raul gave Pellegrini selection headaches, although the Portuguese icon did actually miss two months, not the three that the Chilean coach intimates.

Kaka had his own fitness issues and struggled to settle in Madrid, whilst Raul only played one match in the final month of the season.

This was a squad with limited defensive resources but with a forward line that rivals anything seen at the time.

Pellegrini acknowledged that he wanted both Robben and Sneijder to stay, but there was a surplus of players in those areas.

Do you believe Pellegrini's Real Madrid squad was unbalanced?