 Due to his prolific goalscoring form for Atletico previously, rivals Real Madrid did show interest in signing the striker - tabling an initial bid of £32 million bid - subsequently rejected by Novelda CF.Real instead opted to keep faith in Spanish forward, Fernando Morientes, who had recently been signed from Real Zaragoza for £6 million.In the summer of 1998, he spent three weeks on trial at Crystal Palace, but failed to secure a contract.