the Mourinho era has begun

No time for World Cup withdrawal, because the Real Madrid pre-season has already begun!!!

José Mourinho directed his first training session of the (pre) season this morning, which was scheduled to begin at 9:30h (before, sessions typically began at 11h).  That’s exciting, but I was even more excited to see Aitor Karanka!  It was great to see him back in the Madrid shirt!!!  Ten first-teamers participated: Adán, Garay, Marcelo, Drenthe, Gago, Diarrá, Granero, Lass, Benzema and Dudek.  They were accompanied by eight canteranos: Carvajal, Tébar, Nacho, Álex (Nacho & Álex are brothers) Denis Tcherysev, Fran Rico, Joselu and Morata.

Regarding the canteranos, it looks like things are looking up for them because those eight have been told that they will train with the first team in principle until the summer tour starts.  I hope Mourinho will maintain his confidence in our youth players, and that they will live up to his expectations.

There will be a second training session today at 17:30h.

And, the other big news of the day was that Pedro León was presented as the newest Real Madrid player.  Quick intro: Pedro León Sánchez Gil is a right winter, and was born in Mula, Murcia on Nov. 24, 1986.  He debuted with Levante in 1997, played in Getafe last season, and has been an international with the U-21 team.  And he’s cute!  And you know how I feel about more Spaniards on this team!  (Pedro León is actually only half Spanish, as his mother is Ecuadorian).

Anyway, today he signed for six seasons after Madrid paid a transfer fee of €10 million.  He went through a physical in the morning, and was given a very enthusiastic thumbs up from the Madrid doctors.  Pedro León also signed his new contract with Madrid, visited the museum, was presented to fans at the Bernabéu, said that he would defend the shirt of Madrid with everything he has, and held a press conference, where he said his dream came true and that he’s very happy.

He’ll join Madrid for their second training session today.  Other notes:  Pedro León and Esteban Granero are good friends, having played for Getafe together, and he said that Esteban has kept him up to date with everything happening at the club.  It’s nice that he’ll have a cicerone!  And Pedro León’s older brother Luis León (see here and here for why León is not their last name) is a cyclist who is currently competing in the Tour de France with the Caisse d’Epargne (he’s right now in the 8th overall spot).  Luisle said he will go to the Bernabéu to see his brother play, although his first team is Murcia, and the next one is wherever Pedro is playing.