Summer 2005 Transfer Targets & Other Rumors

lux said that Joaquín is being wasted on the wing right. maybe he might train him to be zidane's succesor.

 

i love the idea of robinho, especially because he's young. i'd be disappointed to see owen leave as he's been great for real madrid this season, but it's going to come down to what's in the best interests of all parties. owen's going to want to be sure he's going to get enough starts to get to the world cup in good form. i'm not sure that robinho's arrival really means owen would be out though. it's a long season, with cup games and injuries that happen at the worst possible moments. also, if robinho comes he's going to be new to spanish football and may require a period of adaptation and some say bulking up a bit. so the opportunities to rotate amongst our four forwards would be there (especially if lux chooses to play with three forwards with raul at the tip of the diamond as he's done late this season).

This is less important for next season, imo, although it could matter a great deal down the road. Beckham has settled in well back where he belongs and if we bring in Joaquin than lux has to sit one. I won't even comment on the other player named. I don't see Sacchi/Lux/Buitre getting red of Becks as Lux clearly appreciates that he helps the team offensively and defensively in the midfield.

I actually think this could be the most important purchase. A young, versatile defender who can also support the attack. Is he young enough to adapt also to a defensive midfield position, so that he could back up Gravesen? Sergio Ramos is a very interesting player to me. Regardless another situation like a champions league knockout with juventus with raul bravo at right back would make me ill.

While both of these players can tackle they are both more attacking midfielders, imo. Then again, Gravesen wasn't a true defensive midfielder and he's done very well.

It's Sacchi time.

 

if raul is in the tip of the diamond, then where does zidane play? again in the left? zizu is not happy playing left and is not giving his 100% there. my guess is luxa wld want zizu to play on the tip of the diamond as the playmaker. if that does not happen, we wld see even less of the zidane magic the next year

totally agree with u. joaquin is a talented player, but do u really think he wld come and replace beckham? beckham is not a player who wld like to be benched ( specially with the world cup around). so if joaquin comes, then it is better we get rid of becks. too many cooks spoil the broth! it is time we learnt this lesson...so as bkn0528 said, IMO the right wing is not that important ...

 

I don't know what Lux is thinking. Joaquin is a natural winger: he has the speed, the lightning fast dribble to get a coupla inches to cross, and good crossing to go with it. That is not to say that he can't be a good OM (like the older versions of Figo and Giggs), but as long as he is young, fit and willing to play near the sideline, let us use it. Madrid hasn't had a proper winger since Figo's first season.

Now's my turn to ask a question... anyone have a good idea of what Riquelme and Saviola are doing next season?

 

Depends on the style of play Luxemburgo goes for. I think Joaquín offers more than Beckham. Whilst Beckham is fantastic with long passes and free kicks, Joaquín is faster, goes at defenders more effectively getting to the end line with ease and he too is a good passer of the ball (for a while he was leading the league in assists). Beckham very rarely takes on defenders - I have never seen a player curl back with the ball as much as he does. On the other had, Beckham will give you more hustle defensively.

Are we okay with Beckham on the right? Yes. Can we play with both? I guess it depends on what Luxemburgo is thinking. Pesonallu, I would go after Joaquín. I do agree that Robinho and Sergio Ramos should be the priorities.

¡Hala Madrid!

 

I think this is a pretty good assessment. Gravesen has done well for Madrid, but it's mostly due to his hustle than his skill -- he'll chase players around, and he'll win balls, but he's also easy to overrun, especially if he'll get an early yellow (which happens a lot, since he looks like a bully) as seen last week. Gravesen played the best for Everton when he had Lee Carsley doing all the defensive dirty work, and played best for Denmark when Tofting/Wieghorst were his partners. That's why I think that while he may do well as the defensive part of a diamond, he'll be a much better asset (at least offensively and in the middle of the pitch) in a 4-2-3-1 with a second (true) d-mid next to him.

Problem with Gerrard and Essien, in addition to their price, is that they're both offensive types too, and will want to go forward.

One might even make the argument that Carsley will be a good buy. Just transplant the bruise brothers to the Bernabeu.

 

I get what you're saying man, but strangely enough no major unofficial mouthpiece of Madrid has said anything about Riquelme or even something about Aimar...
Damn, if these papers got to talking about C. Ronaldo, they could've at least printed some about those two number 10's in order to look sensible, but alas...

Oh yeah, the question, well, I guess Villarreal will bargain and plead hard to keep Roman, but it all comes down to what he wants though, and there's a minimal chance of him being in the starting line-up alongside Ronaldinho, that's a defensive mess. Saviola has made it clear that he wants to return to his team, but might find it hard with three forwards already in place there. I still wonder why they lent him out and then bought Maxxi in the winter, while the rabbit had already proven himself in Spain. Too bad he missed out on their title this year...

 

What happens to Riquelme, Saviola, and the other loan players from Barca will be interesting. They're situation is actually quite similar to the Eto'o situation we had -- a brilliant player is set to return to the big team they are signed too, but there isn't room for them -- Ronaldo, Raul, Owen, etc. made it tough to make keeping Eto'o, but he hurt us this year. Maybe we can get them back by signing Riquelme to replace Zidane -- although I don't know how his EU status would work out for us

 

Real Madrid has just signed Iker Casillas for 5 more years. We have a goal keeper That's good. Now lets start to sign everyone else.

 

AS is saying that Barcelona officials have requested a meeting with Sevilla to discuss acquiring Sergio Ramos. I am not sure how much of this is a real intent to sign the player versus an intent to torpedo the deal (they tried something similar with Robinho). Del Nido is saying that Sergio Ramos will only leave for the 27 million euro transfer fee in his contract and I don't know if Barcelona can afford to pay that (Cruyff mentioned in a recent article in La Vanguardia that Barcelona's money situation is not good).

Let's see what happens with this, but Sergio Ramos should be considered a priority by Sacchi and company.

¡Hala Madrid!

 

when is the start of the transfer window? is it june, july??
this off season should be less frustrating then last because of no elections. i felt last years elections meant that nay nogotiations were cut short as there was only a limited time after the election was won!
i look forward to seeing the signings and indeed who goes out, it will be interesting!

 

AS.com says:

"Cristiano Ronaldo wants to come"

Luxemburgo really admires the Portuguese winger and sees him as the ideal replacement for Figo, and prefers CRonaldo over Joaquin at RW.

We'll see what happens.

 

I'm not sure about Cristiano Ronaldo, but I'm sure I don't want Joaquín. He's the most irregular player in the league. The player I fancy for the RW is Jesús Navas: great dribling, speed, great shot with both legs...
There's some people discussing about Riquelme and Saviola Saviola is just not good enough for Real Madrid, and I don't think Riquelme is what we need in the midfield right now.

 

Incredible how many names are out there. One thing most papers agree on that Robinho and Sergio Ramos are the top targets. If AC Milan is truly interested in Samuel, sell him and get Sergio Ramos.

AS is also saying that Osasuna's Pablo Garcia is an option as a defensive midfielder. He is actually a pretty good player and could be available for 6-8 million euros, but at 28 years old...


¡Hala Madrid!

 

Barcelona signs Van Bommel. He was a target no so long ago. At one point, we thought he was a done deal.

 

Meanwhile, Roma just went liked 11 straight winless games. They are still above relegation zone, but they will play two teams in the relegation zone next. I do not think Roma will go down, but if they go down, a number of great players should be transfering out. Since Perez has good working relationship with Roma, I expect something to happen. Chivu, De Rossi, Totti and Cassano had linked with Real Madrid over the years.

 

I hope we don't sign Emerson. He's getting old, his temper is often an issue, and I don't see a lot in him that Gravesen doesn't have. If we sign a defensive mid I'd hope we go for a younger, more purely-defensive player -- a Mascherano, a de Rossi, etc.

 

I find it amusing that we were in this exact situation last year where most of us were against RM signing Emerson because of his age. Now, he's a year older and Real is still after him - even though he shunned Real to stay at Juventus last time around. WHY?!?!

I don't understand why Emerson is a priority when a younger midfielder with far more potential like Mascherano is still available.

Then again, these are the same people who signed Woodgate at a huge price and who will likely never play a single game for the club.

If they don't make smart decisions during this transfer period, I have a feeling we'll be without any silverware next year as well.

 

PESSIMISM has NO place at REAL MADRID!!!!!!!!

 

I DON'T want Emerson too, on account of his age of course (29 this year)....was presented with the opportunity last year but spurned it big-time! let him stay at Juventus-it was his choice. We should be seen to be re-building for the long-term...Essien or Mascherano or De Rossi - yes!

 

Marca says Essien has apparently already signed some sort of agreement with Chelsea (nothing definitve yet though methinks) so the chance of him coming have gone down.

I'm just still hoping the Emerson thing is gonna go away like when in the middle of the season Butragueño said van Bommel was our first priority. Luckily that changed over the course of the season, hopefully this one will go down in less time.

 

If we get a DMF I want it to be De Rossi. He would be our second man after Gravesen and would be really good purchase depthwise.

Barcelona getting Van Bommel is not good news. With Larsson coming back from injury they will have a scary bunch. But we can match them easily if we just do the correct purchases.

 

Relax. Sheesh!