Madrid - Real Madrid president Florentino Perez made the
headlines across Planet Football last week by being ready to splash
out more than 160 million euros (222.17 million dollars) on Kaka and
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Perez is desperate to build a team capable of challenging the
domestic and European domination of Barcelona, and is rumoured to be
prepared to spend a total of more than 250 million euros this summer.
His profligacy in a time of deep economic crisis - unemployment in
Spain has risen to almost 18 per cent - has been criticized by
Spanish newspapers, television channels and even by the archbishop of
Barcelona, Lluis Martinez Sistach.
Perez, however, is clearly unfazed by the criticism after hiring
Kaka for 65 million euros from AC Milan and offering Manchester
United around 97 million euros for Ronaldo.
His next targets are Valencia trio David Villa, David Silva and
Raul Albiol (all currently playing for Spain at the Confederations
Cup in South Africa) plus Diego Forlan of Atletico Madrid, Xabi
Alonso of Liverpool and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich.
A harder task for Real than signing new players, however, is that
of offloading unwanted ones.
General director Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel
Pardeza will be working around the clock all summer to get rid of at
least 12 unwanted players, according to sports daily AS on Tuesday.
Most of these misfits are players controversially signed at great
expense by Pedja Mijatovic, sporting director from 2006 until two
months ago.
No other major European club is so keen to weed out its squad,
even if it means taking a big financial hit on many of the players.
In particular, Valdano and Pardeza are desperate to thin out the
club's massive 'Dutch colony', according to AS.
Wing-back Royston Drenthe - signed from Feyenoord in 2007 - is top
of the unwanted list, because of the anxiety attack that he suffered
in January after being jeered by the Real fans in the Estadio
Bernabeu.
Then coach Juande Ramos felt obliged to leave Drenthe out of his
squad for three months, and he rarely appeared again in the Bernabeu.
Another Dutchman to be offloaded is Rafael Van der Vaart, who
arrived from SV Hamburg a year ago to high expectations, but has
looked lethargic, slow and even irrelevant on the field, useful only
for his free-kicks.
Klaas Jan Huntelaar could also be on his way. He was an expensive
signing last December from Ajax but has failed to convince, despite
scoring a handful of goals in the winter.
Wesley Sneijder is another Dutchman who could be leaving the
Bernabeu, maybe as a 'makeweight' in one of Perez' big deals. He made
at bright start in white in 2007/08 season, but looked short of
fitness, spark and self-confidence last term.
Valadano and Pardeza are even considering selling Ruud Van
Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben, the two Dutchman who have created the
best impression at the Bernabeu.
Van Nistelrooy, 33, was Liga top scorer in the 2006/07 season,
after joining Real from Manchester United. However, he suffered a
serious knee ligament injury last season, and has been out of action
now for eight months.
Robben started to impress last season, after a first season in
Spain ruined by injury. But he might now be surplus to requirements
because of the arrival of Ronaldo.
Real are also keen to get rid of Javier Saviole, who has hardly
played since joining in 2007 after his Barcelona contract finished.
However, the obstacle here, the same as with the other Real
misfits, is his salary.
Saviola earns around 3 million euros per season for being on
the Real bench, and is unwilling to join a club who will not pay him
so well.
Other unwanted players in a similar situation are Mahamadou
Diarra, Javi Garcia, Gabriel Heinze, Michel Salgado and Jordi Codina.
A long, hot summer lies ahead, therefore, for Valdano and Pardeza.
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