Everything for sale at Real: only 3 shirts have names (News Feature)

By Alberto Bravo Jun 19, 2009, 15:55 GMT

Madrid - Real Madrid have made major headlines over the expensive signing of Kaka and the prospective purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, but the club is also facing the flip side of the same coin: mass sales.

By Friday, only veteran striker Raul Gonzalez, keeper Iker Casillas and defender Sergio Ramos are guaranteed their shirt numbers for next season.

Real Madrid launched Friday the sale of their new kit, but fans who went by the club shop to get the latest novelties found that only three shirts were available with numbers and names on them: Raul's number 7, Ramos' number 4 and Casillas' number 1.

The detail appeared to indicate that the rest of the first team's footballers are liable to being transferred this summer, which promises to be very active in terms of both signings and lay-offs.

Real Madrid currently have a 32-man squad, counting the signings of Kaka and Ronaldo, and managing director Jorge Valdano has said this week that there will be 'no less than four or five further signings.'

The count is clear: Real Madrid would then have some 37 players in their squad, and new coach Manuel Pellegrini only wants 25. Real Madrid, that is, need to sell around 12 players.

The problem is of course made worse by the high salaries that Real Madrid players get by contract, and by how much they have become devalued in a season with generally poor results and in fact no titles at all.

One example is Argentine striker Javier Saviola, whose salary is above 4 million euros (5.5 million dollars) per year. That figure would be very hard to take on by almost any team that might consider signing a footballer who barely played at all over the past two seasons.

Real Madrid appeared to slow down their shopping spree for a few days and were focusing on sales. British media claimed Wednesday that all Premier League clubs had received a fax from the Spanish giants with a list of players on sale.

That list reportedly included all the Dutch players that Real Madrid signed in the past three years: Royston Drenthe, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Arjen Robben.

Robben's case was particularly striking: Real Madrid bought him off Chelsea for 36 million euros (close to 50.2 million dollars) two years ago.

In La Liga, he lived up to his reputation as a glass player, and the new Real Madrid of president Florentino Perez are looking to offload the winger, and even resigned to the possibility of losing a lot of money in the transaction.

Another persistent candidate to leave the Santiago Bernabeu stadium is Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, for whom Real Madrid paid Olympique Lyon 26 million euros (36.2 million dollars) three years ago.

He was injured for the whole of last season, and the Spanish club are trying to find a buyer for him in Italy in what seemed like a very tough task ahead.

Real Madrid would also seriously contemplate the sales of players like Gabriel Heinze, Fernando Gago, Javi Garcia, Miguel Torres, Christoph Metzelder and several others.

As Real Madrid sports director Miguel Pardeza warned last week, 'there will be tears' on the way out of the Spanish giants.

However, the club too will have a hard time selling.