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.
USA
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