I was thinking that Ronaldo's move from Inter to Madrid was unnecessary. I was looking at the strikers that Madrid already had and it would have made more sense to sign a defender to strengthen the backline. Especialy since both Nesta and Fabio Cannavarro moved this summer and would have strengthened their backline very much. Although I would say that Ronaldo is a world class player. He has two FIFA World Player of the Year Awards!! It is only proper that he plays at the biggest and most succesful club in the world. VDB already has one of the best strikers in the world in Raul, a great striker in Morientes, and I believe Guti played as a striker with Raul at Roma and he scored twice to lead Madrid to victory. Also they have Javier Portillo who supposedly has great potential. He propably could have brought in Nesta and Hernan Crespo from Lazio for a little bit more than what they paid Inter for Ronaldo. I know Ronaldo wanted to move and it is amazing that they got Inter to agree to that injury clause in the deal. So either way he went it would have been a great move for Madrid. I also want to know if anyone knows about the situation with the player to be named later, is it more likely to be Mcmanaman, Solari or do you think they will take the money.
This has been a very repeated discussion lately in many sites - this forum including, with all type of opinions. My opinios is the Real Madrid needed both, a defender and a forward. About the forwards. Morientes.- The team have two pure "9" - Morientes and Portillo. Morientes is a very good forward and a very good person but ..... He has never been "Pichichi" - maximum la liga goal scorer - in his five years with the club. Meanwhile, Raul not being a pure forward has been "Pichichi" two years. A pure forward like Morientes must make around 25 goals in la liga with a team as offensive as the Real Madrid. Even in the last times a offensive midfielder like Guti has fought with him for the forward position. Guti.- It's a great player with a great class and a great vision of play. One of my favourites. But he isn't a forward. He can play as forward in case of necessity and he will do it very well, because he has many resources, but the team need real forwards. Raul.- He is a simbol of the club. He is the more charismatic player of team. He is the more appreciated by the people. He is beating all the Real Madrid and Spain records with only 25 years. But he must not support over his shoulders - he has made that many many times - all the responsibility to make goals in the team. Portillo.- He has a great potencial but he has to demostrate that potencial in the first division. And he will have his oportunities. Ronaldo.- If he is healthy is the best forward in the world. Even at 80% like he was in the World Cup is a tremendous forward. He is the perfect couple for Raul. And he is with Zidane the most popular player in the world. Speaking about money, for me the less important, the team has sold in 200,000 Ronaldo T-shirt in only one month. And that is 13M$. In summary, the last year the we had a tremendous dependency in Raul and the level of the team lowered much when he hasn't healthy. Also the team made many goal opportunities but many of those opportunities weren't finished well. A team like the Real Madrid need two forwards that 100% guarantee goals. Because one think is sure, the team generate many goal opportunities in all the games. if we took advantage of them we will win many games although we aren't very good in defense. About central defenders. Hierro.- Maybe, The best central defender Real Madrid history. But he is slower every year. He has serius deficiencies when the play is fast. Helguera.- He following the same way that Hierro when he came to Madrid. He like hierro begin to play as as midfielder and finally play as central defender. He has very good technique and very good touch of ball. And he made goals. He can be the Hierro natural substitute. Pavon.- He played very well the last year. He is not Hierro but he can be a very substitute for Hierro and Helguera. In summary, we only have three Central Defenders in the first team and we will have problems in the defense this year, but the Real Madrid for its style of play always will have problems in the defense - Like Makelele said the last week in France "I have to work the double with the Real that with France". It's not easy be a central defender in the Real Madrid because you will have to work the double that in other teams and, also you have to have a very good touch of ball and vision of play. For that reason there are very few central defenders than can play with garanties in the team and they are very expensives. Player like Nesta are as expensives as Ronaldo. In my opinion we had deficiencies in two positions. And we has corrected one. The future will tell us if the solution was good.
In terms of building a successful team, Ronaldo was probably not the first choice. Raul is the only real class forward, but Mori, Portillo, and Guti are not glaringly deficient. Ronaldo aside, I believe that Valdano and Perez would have pursued Nesta, Cannavaro, and other top central defenders. The team is weakest there and while the forward situation will only get better because the guys are so young, Hierro´s legs are gonna fall off soon. But, when the 2x WPotY, who was just the winner and leading goal scorer in a World Cup, probably the most recognizable athlete in the world, and an ex player of your biggest rivals says he only wants to play for you, it´s hard to say no. Real Madrid got a sweet deal. If Ronnie gets hurt, which was the big concern, they stop paying. He has already sold a bunch of shirts and based on what I´ve seen, makes the team a whole lot better. Compared to Zizou and Figo, Ronaldo was a bargain.
I definitely agree with both of you that Madrid got a great deal if Ronnie hurts the knee again. Also he is one of the best strikers in the world at 100% fitness. There is one thing that could definiteley make this a lot better. Ronnie scoring a couple of goals against his old club, Barca.