I am not 100% sure. Abel Xavier had some injury problems. I think he is at the end of the road. If he is with everton, he does not start there. I did not remember seeing him last weekend. He is hard to miss!!!
The article says Xavier is with Liverpool, but he is not listed on their first team roster on their website and I can't remember seeing him play this year. Same for Everton. I looked up the stats for my fantasy league and he's not listed with any team. Is he in the reserves or something?
I´m certainly not God but maybe I can help. He´s cheap, experienced and carries the same color passport as Queiroz (the last point may be totally irrelevant). My guess is Queiroz figures Abel Xavier is better then nothing, and at least adds depth to the defense.
I would say Andreas Hinkel who plays for Stuttgart he's going to be world class and he's only 21 i think. He did just sign a new deal with stuttgart so he might be a lot of money, but he's definetly worth it. He would be ruled out of CL though. Also Metzelder is another good option when he comes back from injury. Phillipe Mexes from France. Theres a kid at Arsenal his names Stephane Glendeross or somethin like that only 17 and very highly rated from Switzerland I think. I also theink Carlos Bocanegra is a good choice, he did have a horrible game in the MLS cup but he's still world class and I think that if he got to Spain he would quickly show what he can do. Those are alll the defenders I can think of. No wait Lucio or however you spell his name. Not all of them have EU passports though. IN England there's also alot of top defenders who dont even play for the big three but they dont speak Spanish. And I don't really know any of the top Italian defenders aside form the obvious ones. Especially who dont play CL
Andreas Hinkel is a right back. Real have Salgado who just signed a new deal, right? They need a center back.
A player who's played for a 2nd division team his whole life would be experienced as well, doesn't mean he would be suitable for Madrid. I remember this guy when he was playing at PSV, and apparently before he lost his eyesight that he doesn't see in the mirror that his papa smurf 'do makes him look like a moron, and he already wasn't good enough for that team. Then he wasn't good enough for Liverpool and Everton either apparently. I don't see him as a step up from the central defenders currently playing in the team, and Madrid couldn't do much worse than let a player from their youth team fill up the spot on the bench that Abel would be filling, a spot where he shouldn't even be sitting.
What is Real looking like in terms of non-EU players...I know Solari, RCarlos, and Ronaldo aren't; is there anyone else? Brazillian CB Alex is going to be a great center back, but I don't know that Real want someone that inexperienced to step right in. Also, I like Mexes at Auxerre. I don't know how Bocanegra would do, thats a lot of pressure for a guy who is coming off of a bad MLS cup and doesn't even speak the language (as far as I know), know anyone on the team, etc. He will be blasted in the media if he doesn't do well (think of what they did to Ruben x100). I think our number one objective should be either Ayala or Samuel.
Sorry to offend you so much. I don't really want him either; I was just trying to answer your question.
IIRC, Solari has obtained a Spanish passport. I believe that RC and Ronaldo are the only non-EU's on Real Madrid.
Why the hell did Real get rid of Makelele? OK, he wasn't a center back, but was the defense! He was an incredible defensive midfielder, perhaps the best in the world. His wage demands were reasonable, IMHO. Oh well, *#*#*#*#*# happens.
I think the way he went about making those wage demands... i.e. waiting until the last minute, feigning illness, refusing to practice, making inflammatory comments in the media, etc., made it impossible for Madrid to even meet him halfway. They didn't want to let him go, even threatened to report him to Fifa for failing to fulfill the requirements of the contract he signed, but ultimately if Makalele had been allowed to stay after the way he behaved it would have damaged the team's morale and image in such a way that, arguably, it would have been worse than keeping him around to provide the defensive cover they need. He didn't care about playing for Real Madrid, he cared about getting paid - and that's fine for him, but not for the team.
It's too late! The hating Xavier frenzy has taken over! I'm beginning to suspect that Madrid let this possible signing float the news waves, so that if they sign Mr Ed in the future, I'll be 'glad' they signed him instead of Abel Xavier: the previous mr overrato.
Yeah, there is something strange. When all people seemed convinced that Real Madrid won't sign a CB in January - myself included -, you see in the first page of Marca that the team wants to sign Abel Xavier. It's very strange to see a player not very popular as Abel Xavier in the first page of Marca, they should have good sources to put a new about him in the first page. One thing is a new about Henry or other player, but Abel Xavier..... But the news today (Marca, Diario AS) - not in the first page- are that the team could have very advanced the negociations to sign Alex. A Brazilian player of 21 years old that has played with Brazil NT in the last games. They said that the team could pay 5.5 Millions Euros for him. They said that the source of the news are the italian newspapers, and that the italian newspapers also said that Milan would be also interested in the player. I don't know, but it's sounds to me as player Agents rumours to raised the money to pay for their players,or to put their players in the market. What better form to raised the money of a player, that said that RM is interested in him. Anyway, Alex sound better than Abel Xavier. http://www.marca.com/edicion/noticia/0,2458,427028,00.html http://www.as.com/articulo.html?d_date=&xref=20031219dasdasftb_7&type=Tes&anchor=dasftbA00
Alex supposed to be the next great defender from Brazil.... he can step in and fill the holes in years to come. Abel Xavier will only be a backup. He is a player Liverpool has no plan of using again.
Soccerage are reporting that Real and Alex are very close to a deal...http://www.soccerage.com/en/13/s2386.html If this happens, I will be much happier than if they signed RVN, Henry, Owen, etc.; we would save money, get a good player at a position where we need help, and possibly form a great combo with Pavon - Alex.
Lates news about CB: Valdano has said : "We do not have intention to sign in January, unless we find an opportunity, but this is something not easy in these dates" http://www.marca.com/edicion/noticia/0,2458,427819,00.html Also, three new players of the youth team will play in the first team since january: Mejia - 21 years old, Centerback. Mejia played in the friendly against Valladolid three weeks ago, and it seems that Queiroz was happy with him, He has trained with the first team some days since then. Juanfran - He plays in the same position of Figo and Nuñez. Jurado - 17 years old. He plays as second forward. He is one of the big hopes of the youth teams. He is the favourite player of the RM managers. Actually they are working to fortify his muscles, his weakest point. http://www.marca.com/edicion/noticia/0,2458,428083,00.html Well, at least Valdano hasn't closed totally the doors about sign a new player.
I hoped to hear the signings of Alex. If he does not sign with RM, he will go to Bayern Munich and he will play against RM in CL....
Diario As newspaper say today that the jounalists in Brazil continue saying that Alex will sign for Real Madrid. This is out of topic, but they also said that Abramovic has made a offer of 3Million of Euros for Juanfran, the player of the youth teams, he is 18 years old, that was 2nd of the world with Spain sub-20 NT some weeks ago. Juanfran is one of the players that will play with the first team in january.