Some thoughts on the current situation at our club…
I wish for the pre-season to be over already not only because it seems like it’s been going on forever, and we still have 10 days to go before our first official game, but also because the friendlies are dangerous to our defenders! Plus, I want the transfer window to be shut already, so we will know what the final squad looks like. And with regards to the games, they have just been plain boring (trying to catch a glimpse of Sergio’s hair was the only reason that compelled me to watch the Standard Liège game). I also want to start seeing jerseys with names on the back!!! (It’ll help distract me from the ugliness of the font used for the numbers.)
The LA Galaxy game saw Pepe drop. Then the Bayern Munich game saw us lose Garay. And now the Standard Liège game has proved hazardous to the health of Raúl Albiol. That means that Ricardo Carvalho is our only true central defender left; good thing we signed him then, isn’t it?
And speaking of signings, we now have too many midfielders, and not enough defenders or forwards it seems. What is going through the minds of the Real Madrid president and directors? And we also have to get rid of three players (TSO only wants 23 players), but no one seems to want to leave. The ones most being “shopped” right now are Rafa van der Vaart, Lass, Diarrá, Drenthe and Gago. Out of those, it would pain me to see Rafa leave, because he did an excellent job in the place of Kaká last season, and he’s been so professional, never complaining, even though his name has been on the “transfer list” for the last two seasons. And because I would hate for Sylvie to leave us. It wouldn’t surprise me if FP wanted to get rid of Rafa just for being a Calderón signing and no other reason.
The Spanish players (and by that I mean Granero) are all safe, because Madrid needs to have at least eight Spanish players (there are nine right now), four of which have to have come from the cantera to meet UEFA Champions League recommendations. And with the departure of Raúl and Guti, Adán had to be promoted to the first team to help Madrid meet that requirement (Iker and Arbeloa being the other two).
Anyway, at least we know who won’t have the opportunity to get injured before the start of the season. Cristiano, Sergio, Iker, Pipita and Xabi Alonso will be rested this weekend and won’t play in the match against Hércules (which is a bit of a shame, because I wanted to see Iker and Tote together again). However, Sergio might be called up because as mentioned before, we don’t have too many healthy defenders left.
And speaking of Xabi and Cristiano, they have become the “unofficial” captains of Real Madrid, due to their leadership, attitudes and actions. Cris is always the first one at practice and the last one to leave, he leads exercises during training sessions and raises his voice in the locker room. And when Xabi talks, others listen to him. Interestingly enough, they’re the ones wearing the “7” and “14” this season, the numbers left behind by the two previous captains, Raúl and Guti. And according to Marca, the new captain, Iker, has undergone a transformation since putting on the captain’s armband. According to a source in the club, he’s assumed the role of captain easily and has been accepted by his teammates. Meanwhile, vice captain Sergio Ramos is also conscious of the weight of the armband and has become more serious (apparently, he now sings less in the locker room; too bad! But we have the rap trio of Benzema, Özil and Drenthe to make up for that).