Money Grabber...Bad business and incomplete team...

Spanish Champions Real Madrid have been in the news all summer for almost everything but the right reasons. A team who are the current defending Spanish La Liga Champions should know better on how to conduct their business. First there was all the nonsense on a non existent transfer target of Christiano Ronaldo. Across the world press was trying desperately to get one shred of news which would point in the direction that Ronaldo wants to join Madrid. Well Ronaldo would have a liking for Madrid so would 500 other players, but was he ever going to tell his London club that he would not play for them if he was not sold? Real found out the answer the tough way.

If that was some shock for the club where everyone supposedly wants to play, their own super star wanted out. I still remember a few years back the news about Real signing one of the brightest stars in Brazil. One who performed 12 step overs on a trot, the darling of Santos FC, the next Pele many called. There was just one problem, Robinho's mom was kidnapped on hearing the news of his imminent transfer to Europe. Madrid issued a statement that they were not pursuing the Brazilian, the mother was released. Robinho and his mom were flown to Spain and Madrid put in the transfer money on the last day of the transfer window. How heroic a tale to tell, but the #10 at the Spanish Capital as we know now did not reciprocate the gratitude.

The reason Robinho and his agent says is simple, but yet a little beyond comprehension. There was news during the Ronaldo saga that Madrid are planning to use Robinho in a part exchange deal. Robinho was upset that he was not valued by his club and immediately wanted a move out of Real, and identified Chelsea as his preferred location. With former Brazil national team the new coach and the Portuguese and Brazilian influence was enough for Robinho to make up his mind. Chelsea came with all force and a 33M Euros offer for the Brazilian. They were so confident that they would sign Robinho, they started selling #10 jerseys on their official online store. This it seems was the Reason for Real Madrid President to change his mind. You must be kidding me right. Yes it is a big deal, Yes Chelsea screwed up. Robinho had a contract for only 2 more years and Madrid would lose out on a lot of money if they did not sell him this year.

But is Calderon the smartest man around? Certainly not!! He took the risk and rejected Chelsea's bid knowing fully well how active the last day of transfer window is in Great Britain. He would have been hoping that Chelsea make a better bid and get close to Madrid's valuation. Robinho it seems had informed the President that he was not going to accept Madrid's revised contract extension and he would rather become a traveling salesman than play for Madrid anymore.

In a bizarre turn of events things took such a U-turn that no one ever could have imagined. It was beyond all the possible imagination that the world press could bring. I was away vacationing in Las Vegas and got back on Sept 1st and soon realized it should have been Man City faithfuls who should have been gambling. They woke up the richest club in the World, under new Dubai owner with supposedly over a Trillion dollars in finances of which 550 Billion in spending cash. Not only did Chelsea's Russian 12 Billion boss look tiny in front of this, Man City made an audacious bid for Robinho which was accepted and made Madrid richer by a few 30M GBP.

I heard Steve Curry say on Sky Sports that it has been proved with this decision by Robinho that the best destination in Europe for the best players around. Well if Robinho had made the switch to Chelsea i might have agreed partially with Mr.Curry. EPL does have a few good clubs, but Man City to be compared in the same league as their more illustrious neighbors or even the likes of mid table clubs is like seeing a nice dream and that too if i am a Man City fan who is drunk. Is one British record signing going to make Man City a club that could topple the usual top fours for once? That was not the only major news in the Premiership as Man Utd signed Bulgarian Berbatov 20 minutes from deadline.

The whole of last week i have read articles after articles on people defending Robinho and on the other hand "I will never be a Robinho" from some of the superstars. Calderon was for sure lucky with the whole transfer of Robinho. He should be given credit to reject the initial bid from Chelsea and waiting for the right offer. Fortunately for him it came from Man City and since Robinho so desperately wanted out of Madrid he would have gone to play for Churchill Brothers in India citing the number of Brazilians who plays there. The only problem here is Real President and his Sporting Director has messed up big time in the transfer window this season. The Manager Schuster has come out openly and made requests for a striker. With Soldado sold this season, there is lack of quality in terms of depth. Van Nistelrooy has started off the season with a bang with goals, Raul seems his usual in-effective self, Higuain the super sub and Saviola has not seen major playing time. I see a point in what Schuster is saying here. Madrid needs to get another quality striker and start playing a few away games at least without Raul.


Madrid need a quality CB, if Schuster does not intend to give any playing time at all to Metzelder. I hardly remember him playing in the White shirt and then you see him playing every game with Germany in the Euro championships en-route to their final loss. They need a left back if Torres is going to be used in that position. Please dont tell me that Madrid is going to compete in all competitions with stop gap players. The only place where Madrid did not need re-enforcements was in midfield, but they still went ahead and bought Van der vart for 9 M when he could have been available for less than a million a year later. Now Madrid are talking about signing Lucas Podolski during the January transfer window. Well good choice in my eyes, i sign him each time when i play Manager mode in FIFA 08. He got me 33 goals season, not the same as in real life. He is for sure a good choice, flair player who drifts left. Almost perfect replacement for Robinho. But that is January...

Madrid made a deadline bid of in excess of 50M to Valencia for the services of David Villa. It was a week before that Villa signed contract extensions. This was a key signing and a ridiculous miss from Madrid. Schuster also wanted cover on the LB area and had ear marked countryman Philip Lahm as the one for the role.

It is the worst position to be in as a Manager, but Schuster needs to give more playing time to players like Gago, Metzelder, Saviola and the rest of the youngsters. Madrid were supposed to spend over 80M on one player, finally ended up getting around 40M added to their bank and ended up nothing to show for. A season with La Liga and Champions League, it will be interesting to see if Ruud or Robben get injured. If Schuster is going to follow his same tactics as last year in squad rotation, i see Madrid struggling...

My take is that Calderon and Pedja Mijatovic have got a sword over their heads. As part of the management of one of the clubs with the best resources in the world, they have screwed up big time, with one of the most disastrous summers that i can think of.