Van der Vaart joins Real Madrid

The Spanish giants have lodged a new bid of €10m and expect that to be accepted alowing talks to begin between the clubs and the player's representative.With Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival now more and more unlikely, Madrid have turned their attentions to other players after Bernd Schuster pleaded with the club's hierarchy to add to his squad.
Van der Vaart has been on the club's list for months, but with all the focus placed on signing just one player Los Merengues are now having to push on with Plan B.
Hamburg meet Real Madrid in the Emirates Cup at Arsenal's stadium on Saturday and then play Juventus on Sunday, giving Van der Vaart two chances to showcase his talent to Schuster.
Ramón Calderón has backed down over his plans not to sign anyone should Ronaldo not be available and relented for the sake of the coached who asked for some new faces to freshen things up.According to Marca, Hamburg have decided to sell and use the money to find a replacement and after turning down just €6m last week, will say yes to the €10m now on the table.
Schuster is believed to have asked sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, on July 10 to do a deal with Hamburg after initial contact was made and a deal looked set to be done then.Van der Vaart's arrival could see two or three new players arrive at the Bernabéu which would certainly mean that any bid for Ronaldo had been postponed this year.

Match Report:LASK Linz-Real Madrid

LASK Linz-Real Madrid

Madrid coach Bernd Schuster made several unusual alterations to his side ahead of the fixture, with Jerzy Dudek taking Iker Casillas' goalkeeper slot and Javi García dropping back into central defence due to Pepe's injury.But despite the makeshift nature of the line-up, after a disastrous settling-in period that saw Madrid go 1-0 down the Spanish side were not to prove troubles at all for the vast bulk of the game. While giving away such a cheap goal will worry the boss, the way his side rallied to recover will surely boost his spirits, although the late consolation for LASK will not.

LASK Linz 1-3 Real Madrid
1-0 Saurer 14'
1-1 Julio Baptista 20'
1-2 Raúl 45'
1-3 Saviola 84'
2-3 Mijatovic 90'

Real Madrid:
Dudek; Salgado, Heinze, Javi García, Torres; Diarra; Robben, Guti, Julio Baptista (Sneijder 46); Raúl (Saviola 46), Higuaín (Van Nistelrooy 46).

Pepe Says, Ronaldo is Looking Forward to Join Real Madrid

For over the last couple of months the issue regarding Cristiano Ronaldo’s future and his speculated move to Real Madrid from Manchester Untied has been the centre of attention in European club football. Real Madrid has already found their record offer rejected by Manchester United in their pursuit to sign the Portuguese star. However, Ronaldo already expressed his wish to play for Real Madrid for a number of occasions.
Recently, Ronaldo’s Portugal national teammate and Real Madrid defender Pepe said that he had talks with Ronaldo about his move to Real. According to Pepe, Ronaldo was keen to join the Spanish club. Pepe also added that Ronaldo was looking forward to join Real Madrid knowing the greatness of the club.
However, Manchester United chief executive David Gill made it clear that the club owner, the Glazer family, is not interested to sell the Portuguese star to Real Madrid.

Schuster wants Robinho to stay with Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster is adamant that Chelsea target Robinho will remain at the club next season.

Reports that the Brazil international is on his way to the Premier League have been rife, with Manchester United and Chelsea favourites to secure his services.
The 24-year-old's agent, Wagner Ribeiro, claimed on Tuesday the Blues were winning the race, admitting Robinho is keen to link up with new boss and fellow Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.
But Schuster believes the Madrid directors would be unwise to let Robinho leave.
'I don't see Robinho out of this team because it doesn't make any sense,' he told Spanish newspaper AS. 'It's normal that being in Brazil stories reach him from 10,000km away, but it's rubbish.
'He has to be with us. He's a player in our project.'

Robinho is believed to be upset with Real after they refused to allow him to join up with the Brazil squad for this summer's Olympic Games.
Wagner also told reporters his client felt 'undervalued' by Real bosses, who were reportedly considering using the forward in a trade deal for Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, Schuster insists the 24-year-old is one of the most important players in the squad and revealed he sent the player a video of his goals from last season to try and raise his spirits.
'We've shown him his goals from last year and we all realised that he is one of the most important players in this squad and we need him for the next few years,' Schuster continued.
'The only problem is when a player can't train with a group as he should, and more so in the case of Robinho who needs to show his joy on the pitch and to be happy with his team-mates.
'He's recovering from his injury and that is cheering him up. I'm very calm. The day he starts training with the team again he'll soon pick up. It's not a worry.'

Real Madrid Preseason

After a week in the Algarve, Real Madrid now travel to Irdning to tackle hard pre-season work. This is the fifht year the team trains in the Austrian town. Double training session a dayThe players have gradually adapted to work in the Algarve during the past week. They will arrive in Irdning at 18:50 this evening to intensify their training.The squad will attend a double session every day at the sports facilities of the Scholss Pichlarn Hotel, where they will stay the next ten days. Men who played in the Euro but still haven't rejoined the team will do so througout the week . Sergio Ramos, Casillas, De la Red and Metzelder will be the last to arrive. The only players missing will be those who are set to participate in the Olympic Games this summer. Friendly on 27 JulyReal Madrid's first friendly of the season will be against Austrian First Division side Lask Linz. The encounter will serve to see in what physical condition the players are in.The squad will travel to London three days later to participate in their most important summer tournament this summer: the Emirates Cup. They will face Hamburg, Juventus and host side Arsenal. The team will return to Madrid two days later only to leave for Colombia on 6 August to play in a firendly in Bogotá. On 12 August they are set to face Eintrach in Frankfurt in their last match prior to the first Spanish Super Cup clash.

Chelsea Make Offer For Real's Robinho

Brazilian International Robinho’s agent has claimed that Chelsea have offered La Liga Champions Real Madrid £31.75million (€40m) to bring the winger to Stamford Bridge.

Robinho has been linked with a move to the Blues all summer, with new Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari already stating his desire to prise the Brazilian away from the Bernabeu.
Robinho’s agent Wagner Ribeiro has revealed that Barcelona have made an approach for his client and that he told them about the offer made by Chelsea. However, he also believes that it will be difficult to secure a move to either Stamford Bridge or the Nou Camp.
He told Onda FM: “A director from Barca called me to see how things are going. I told him that there was a firm offer from Chelsea for 40m euros (£31.75m).”

Sneijder-We don't want Ronaldo at Real Madrid

Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneijder has said that ace Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is not wanted at the Spanish club because he is a mega-earning bottler.
Dutchman Sneijder said that Ronaldo's massive wages would upset teammates and claimed that Ronaldo "disappeared" before big games for Manchester United. Sneijder said: "It would be bad for the dressing room as he would earn better wages than the rest of the squad. It would not matter to me but I know there are other players who would not like that. Maintaining the stability within the squad is important."
Sneijder thinks the Spanish champions have players as good as Ronaldo, The Sun reported.
"To speak highly of him would be slightly disrespectful to the players that are here and have shown their class. There are already similar players to him here like Arjen Robben," Sneijder said.
"I want Robinho to stay - he is almost the same as Ronaldo. People criticise him a bit and say Robinho does not play well in big games but I've seen Ronaldo disappear in some of United's big games," he added.
Real Madrid is trying to bag Ronaldo from Old Trafford in a 70million pound deal and would pay him around 150,000 pound-a-week.
But Sneijder said that Real should save their cash. He said: "This side doesn't need to make signings."

Ronaldo Is Coming Soon - Calderón

Ramón Calderón remains confident that Cristiano Ronaldo will eventually sign for Real Madrid and joked with the players that the Portuguese star would be with them soon.Los Merengues' president is staying in the Algarve while the squad are there on a pre-season training camp and went to visit the team at their base, according to AS.When he turned up some of the players shouted jokingly: "Presi, when is Cristiano coming?" To which Calderón replied: "Don't worry, he will be here soon."The light-hearted moment had a serious side behind it as Calderón knows that he will have some face-saving to do if he fails to prise the player away from Manchester United.With the hot topic of the moment at Madrid still having no answer, the club has turned its attention to other players and are weighing up a bid for Rafael Van der Vaart.Calderón held talks with coach Bernd Schuster on the side of the training pitch in Portugal and kept him updated with all the pertinent issues, including the delicate talks with Robinho.Another visitor to the training complex this week has been Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, who is a good friend of Schuster and was able to spend a couple of hours watching the squad be put through their paces.

Beckham wants Madrid role

David Beckham has admitted that he could be tempted back to the Bernabeu with a role coaching Real Madrid’s youth team players, but reiterated his decision to stay away from club management. The ex-Real Madrid superstar speaks fondly of his time at the Bernabeu, where he is held in high regard by the club’s fans. After leaving the club for the Hollywood Hills last summer, it was widely expected that Beckham would sever ties with Spain and concentrate on his academies all over the world. However, the 33-year-old revealed to Marca that he is considering the possibility of making a return to his Spanish base, where he foresees working alongside the Madrid under-age sides. He said: "I would like to return to Spain some day and to Real Madrid. To work with the kids or something similar at Madrid would be an honour for me. "Everybody knows that I love to work with kids and that I adore Spain. I still have my house in Madrid and if I return some day I already have somewhere to live. "When the moment comes we will have to see, but to be part of Madrid would be great. I have many friends there and many people who I respect a lot, such as (former president) Florentino Perez, who is one of the best friends I have in Madrid." Beckham has a number of off-field interests, including a range of football schools across the world and extensive work with UNICEF. His extra-curricular commitments would rule him out of a coaching role at the game’s top level. Although part of the Manchester United side that produced coaches like Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Paul Ince, Roy Keane and Henning Berg, Beckham insists that he has little interest in following the Alex Ferguson path. He continued: "I have my academy of football here in Los Angeles, but I will never be a coach. I don't have this passion, I prefer to be with my academy and work with the children, with UNICEF...and things like this where you can help people. "I love football and I will always continue being involved in it, but I don't want to be working on the sidelines or anything like that."

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El Marca: Real Madrid Signs Van Der Vaart

Spain newspaper El Marca is reporting that Real Madrid have come to an agreement with 25-year-old Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
The Dutch midfielder would join fellow countrymen Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, and Ruud van Nistelrooy in the attacking half for the defending La Liga champions.
After being linked to Tottenham earlier this summer, van der Vaart had reportedly said he would rather stay with Hamburg than leave for a club at the same level. But he did hint that he would be open to a move to one of the major clubs in England, Spain, or Italy.
Over the last two summers Madrid has signed four dutch players—Robben, Sneijder, and Royston Drenthe joined the club last season—and will now sport five on their roster.
After watching this year’s European Championship, it looks like Madrid hope to replicate some of the attacking prowess that the Oranje showed in Austria/ Switzerland.
When my friend sent me a post from the German newspaper Kicker announcing the trade this morning, the only word of the article I understood was “Madrid.”
Both Kicker and El Marca are reporting that a deal is done with van der Vaart and a transfer is expected to be completed with over the next few days in the neighborhood of €20 million.
Where will van der vaart fit in with Madrid? The Spanish giants seem to have an abundance of attacking midfielders with Robben, Sneijder, Robinho, Baptista, and Guti.
If recent reports are correct, Robinho could be on his way to Chelsea which would explain Madrid’s thinking when bringing in van der Vaart.
Another big issue this raises is Los Blancos’ interest in Cristiano Ronaldo. Earlier this summer the transfer looked inevitable but with talks slowing down lately and this deal, it looks less and less likely that Ronaldo will join Madrid.
With this deal all but finished, here is a look at what Real’s starting lineup could look like as they attempt to defend their La Liga title:
GK: Iker Casillas.
DEF: Fabio Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos, Gabriel Heinze, Pepe.
MID: Fernando Gago, Sneijder, Robber, van der Vaart.
ATT: van Nistelrooy and Raul.
This is an incredibly potent team that can score goals and will not give up many. They also leave Bernd Schuster a lot of options whether he wants to play a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1, he has the players.
What do you think about this transfer and what it will do for Madrid this next season and what it means for Ronaldo’s future with Man U.

Real Madrid tell Rafael Nadal: Cristiano Ronaldo will sign

Cristiano Ronaldo's future at Manchester United has taken yet another twist with the news Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal received personal assurances from Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon that the Portugal international will sign for the Spanish club.

According to reports, Nadal, the fervent Real Madrid supporter was told by Calderon that Ronaldo's move to the Bernabeu is "done and dusted", following the epic five-set championship win over Roger Federer at SW19.
It is understood Nadal asked Calderon: "OK, President, where's this Cristiano Ronaldo we are supposed to be signing?"
This prompted a confident response from the Real president who boasted to Nadal: "Relax, Rafa, everything's under control. We've got him done and dusted."
The news will undoubtedly anger leading officials at Old Trafford once again, doing little to improve the strained relationship between the two leading European clubs. On Monday, Calderon avoided a potentially embarrassing confrontation with United chief executive David Gill in Nyon by opting to fly to Madrid for a board meeting instead.

Yet while Real continue to claim Ronaldo will sign for them, United have been equally bullish over the Portugal winger's future, maintaining Ronaldo will remain a Manchester United player.
Ronaldo, 23, is expected to miss the start of the new season after medics ordered him to rest for a month following his recent ankle surgery in Holland.
However, other reports suggest that Ronaldo informed a well-wishing supporter who sneaked into his room at the Amsterdam hospital, where the player rested after his operation, that he was relishing a new beginning in Spain.
According to the fan David Jolly, Ronaldo said to him: "I hope I'll be as good in Spain as I was in England."

Real Madrid 08/09 New Kits

Lyon: No Madrid Bid For Ben Arfa

Lyon have denied ever receiving a bid from Real Madrid for Hatem Ben Arfa, despite the 21-year-old winger - who joined Marseille this week for an undisclosed fee - claiming that Real Madrid had tried to sign him.Ben Arfa further claimed that Lyon had favoured his moving to the Bernabeu as they would benefit more financially from that transfer.But Lyon dispute that secenario.A statement on the club's official website said: "Olympique Lyonnais are keen to confirm that we have never had the slightest contact with Real Madrid concerning the transfer of Hatem Ben Arfa, and therefore never 'sent' representatives from the Spanish club to see Ben Arfa."OL can confirm that only two clubs showed an interest in signing the player: Marseille and Paris St-Germain."President Jean-Michel Aulas informed the player of this in order to find out his choice, which was Marseille."

Man United and Real bosses to meet over Ronaldo saga

MADRID: Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon and Manchester United chief executive David Gill will hold talks in Switzerland next week over Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo (caricature), the Spanish sports daily AS reported yesterday.
The private talks will take place tomorrow at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon on the sidelines of a wider meeting of European clubs, AS said.
Meawhile, London's The Sun reported that Manchester United have described claims that Cristiano Ronaldo is on the verge of moving to Real Madrid as ‘laughable nonsense’, .
United were outraged when Spanish paper Marca, which is recognised as the official mouthpiece of Real, said the deal was imminent.
They claimed Real had offered £70mil and United wanted £83mil.
But a United spokesman said: “There is not a shred of truth in it. This is laughable nonsense and to be quite honest we are getting fed up with it.
“We are not entering into any discussions with anyone about selling Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Quite simply Cristiano Ronaldo is not for sale and that is that.”
All United were concentrating on yesterday with regards to Ronaldo was arranging an ankle operation for the player.
The Portugal winger will have the op next week which will keep him out of action for two months.
Presuming that Ronaldo remains at United, he is sure to miss the first four Premier League games of next season as the Reds defend their title.
That is a big blow for manager Alex Ferguson – especially as it includes the trip to arch-rivals Liverpool on Sept 13.
Ronaldo has been playing through the pain barrier since March when he first noticed a problem with his right ankle.
He still played the whole season, netting a staggering 42 goals as United won the Champions League and Premier League.
Portuguese officials believed he was fit for Euro 2008 too but the problem has not gone away and now the operation is needed.
Ronaldo had been trying to engineer a move to Spanish giants Real during his time at Euro 2008.
But he looks to have since had a change of heart.
Publicly he says he does not know where he will be next season.

Friends admit no Real Madrid news for Man Utd's Ronaldo

tribalfootball.com - July 06, 2008
Friends admit Cristiano Ronaldo is in the dark over whether Manchester United will sell him to Real Madrid.
A close friend, Jose, who is holidaying with Ronaldo in Italy, told AS: "Cristiano is not going to speak now because he cannot say anything. The truth is that, today, he knows nothing about what will happen. Of course he's going to go to Manchester United and Cristiano will see (Sir Alex) Ferguson.
"We, tomorrow (today), will return to Portugal, but then he will travel to Manchester this week because Cristiano needs his ankle operation. Regarding Real Madrid, there is nothing concrete, so we cannot say anything.
"He knew that on the 17th he must return to Manchester and the only thing that is clear is Cristiano has a contract with United. He is very quiet, it's okay and the truth is that there's little he can do in this regard.
"Let's see what's going to happen ..."
Meanwhile, while holidaying in Italy, Ronaldo admitted to a Telemadrid reporter: "Will I go to Madrid? I do not know yet ..."

Real Madrid Profile

Full name :Real Madrid Club de Fútbol
Nickname(s) :"Los Vikingos "(The Vikings) "Los Blancos" (The Whites) "Los Merengues" (The Meringues)

Founded :6 March 1902 (as Sociedad Madrid FC)

Ground :Santiago Bernabéu Madrid, Spain (Capacity: 80,400)

Chairman :Ramón Calderón

Head Coach :Bernd Schuster

League: La Liga

2007–08 :La Liga, 1st

CURRENT SQUAD

GK Iker Casillas (2nd vice-captain)

2 DF Míchel Salgado

3 DF Pepe

4 DF Sergio Ramos

5 DF Fabio Cannavaro

6 MF Mahamadou Diarra

7 FW Raúl González (captain)

8 MF Fernando Gago

9 FW Roberto Soldado

11 MF Arjen Robben

12 DF Marcelo

13 GK Jordi Codina

14 MF Guti (1st vice-captain)

15 MF Royston Drenthe

16 DF Gabriel Heinze

17 FW Ruud van Nistelrooy

18 FW Javier Saviola

19 MF Julio Baptista

20 FW Gonzalo Higuaín

21 DF Christoph Metzelder

22 DF Miguel Torres

23 MF Wesley Sneijder

25 GK Jerzy Dudek

-- MF Javier García

-- MF Esteban Granero

-- MF Rubén de la Red

Honours

Primera Division: 1932, 1933, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2001

Copa del Rey: 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1917, 1934, 1936, 1946, 1947, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1989, 1993

European Cup: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002

UEFA Cup: 1985, 1986

European Super Cup: 2002

World Club Cup: 1960, 1998, 2002