weeks later and it turned out to be his last game for Ajax. Real Madrid At the start of December 2008, Real Madrid reached an agreement with Ajax to sign Huntelaar in the mid-season transfer window in January. Huntelaar joined Real Madrid in January 2009 for an initial fee thought to be worth €20 million, potentially rising to €27 million. Huntelaar made his debut on 4 January on his return from injury in a La Liga home match against Villarreal. He played for 56 minutes and made four further appearances as a substitute, before scoring his first goal for the team on 15 February in a 0–4 away win at Sporting Gijón. Madrid had planned to add both Huntelaar and fellow new signing Lassana Diarra to their 2008–09 Champions League squad, but both players had already featured in the same season's UEFA Cup for previous clubs Ajax and Portsmouth, respectively. UEFA rules would allow only one of the pair to be registered by 1 February and Diarra was selected to play in the competition. Huntelaar went on to score eight goals in 20 appearances (13 starts and seven substitute appearances) in just half a season at Madrid. A.C. Milan On 6 August 2009, Huntelaar transferred to Serie A club A.C. Milan for €17.75 million, signing a four-year contract. On 29 August, Huntelaar made his competitive league debut for Milan coming on as a sub in the 0–4 loss to cross-city rivals Inter Milan in the Derby della Madonnina. After a slow start, Huntelaar scored his first Milan goals on 29 November in a 0–2 away win at Catania, scoring twice after coming on in the 84th minute. After the match, manager Leonardo stated that he would give Huntelaar more chances. However, he only appeared as a substitute for the next few matches, and because of the great form of teammate Marco Borriello, Huntelaar did not even appear as a substitute very often until Borriello's injury. Huntelaar capitalized on the opportunity by scoring his second brace of the season, helping Milan to a 3–2 defeat of Udinese. When Borriello hit bad form, Huntelaar was expected to play more often, but Leonardo chose to play veteran Filippo Inzaghi instead. On 3 April, Huntelaar started the match against Cagliari and scored from 30 meters out to stretch his goal tally to seven. Schalke 04 On 31 August 2010, Bundesliga club Schalke 04 signed