Madrid - Real Madrid are baulking at the price tags that
Bayern Munich and Liverpool have placed on Franck Ribery and Xabi
Alonso, according to their general director Jorge Valdano.
Real have already splashed out around 210 million euros this
summer, in the most profligate spending spree that football has ever
seen, on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Raul Albiol.
And the spree is not yet over. According to the Spanish media,
controversial president Florentino Perez - who has been criticized
for his profligacy by prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and
UEFA president Michel Platini, among others - still has another 90
million euros available for further signings.
But Valdano is disappointed at the prices that Bayern and
Liverpool are demanding for their stars, prices that might actually
have increased because of Perez's spending in the past month.
Valadano is quoted in sports daily Marca on Wednesday as saying
that 'it seems that Ribery is not going to leave Bayern Munich this
season.
They (Bayern) have found many ways to say 'no', sometimes saying
'no' directly, sometimes talking about (a transfer fee of) 80 million
euros (111.73 million dollars), which is another way of saying 'no''.
Valdano added that Real would 'wait for another opportunity (to
sign Ribery), which will surely arrive. The player has two more years
left on his contract, and life is long.'
Interestingly, an online poll taken by Marca shows, on Tuesday,
that only 17 per cent of Real fans think that the club should splash
out 80 million euros on Ribery.
Valdano, the right-hand man of Real president Florentino Perez,
also pointed out that the signing of Xabi Alonso was on hold, because
of the price put on the midfielder by Liverpool, believed to be
around 30 million euros.
'There was an approach to Liverpool,' Valdano told Marca, 'but
they have put up the transfer fee too high for our liking.
Everyone knows that he (Alonso) is a player who has always been
interesting for us. He is a man who can organize, who is in a phase
of maturity in his sporting career.'
According to Marca and rival daily AS on Tuesday, because of the
high price of Alonso Real are now negotiating with AS Roma for
midfielder Daniel De Rossi.
AS also claims that Real are close to selling unwanted striker
Klass Jan Huntelaar to Bundesliga club Vfb Stuttgart, for around 18
million euros.
Valdano rejected the possibility of signing Brazil right-back
Maicon - for whom Inter Milan have allegedly priced at 40 million
euros - because 'in that position we have Sergio Ramos.'
When asked about Ronaldo - who was welcomed to Madrid by 85,000
fans on Monday - Valdano said that 'we are not worried about his
private life, but we are worried about the pressure he will be
subjected to by the non-sporting press.
He is the kind of player like (Zinedine) Zidane, one of those that
turns out to be unforgettable for the fans.'
USA
Your Talkback on this Story