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Real Madrid's love affair with Brazilian footballers seems to be slowly coming to an end. At its height, back in Florentino Pérez's last season as club president, the squad boasted five Brazilians in its ranks: Roberto Carlos, Cicinho, Baptista, Robinho and Ronaldo. As of today, with the sale of Julio Baptista to Roma for €12 million, this number now stands at two: Robinho and Marcelo. If you listen to the sports press, and Robinho does end up in Phil Scolari's Chelsea, it could soon be just one.
There could be two factors at play in this changing trend: the most plausible one is that, Marcelo aside, all of the other Brazilian players were signed before Ramón Calderón's ascent to power at Real Madrid. And, apart from Roberto Carlos, they were all signed in Florentino Pérez's era. Calderón has not bothered to hide his dislike for his previous boss and has even gone so far as to accuse him of meddling in the affairs of the club following his resignation. He may be thinking of putting his own stamp on the squad by getting rid of those who arrived under Florentino. The second possible factor is the growing perception at Real Madrid of Brazilians as "problematic". In other words, a fondness for the party life and complaints when not selected in the starting 11.
It is no secret that Robinho is unsettled at the club. Marca goes so far as to suggest that he has told Calderón in person that he wants to leave, although the president has so far refused to entertain any offers from Chelsea. This contrasts interestingly with some of his statements during the Cristiano Ronaldo saga to the effect that he would never keep anyone at the club who was unhappy there.
The focus at the club, quite possibly heavily influenced by Bernd Schuster, has now shifted towards players perceived to be more solid, more reliable. This has resulted in an unprecedented number of Dutch players being signed. Van Nistelrooy was signed in 2006 (under Capello), followed by Robben, Sneijder and Drenthe last summer. The recent addition of Van der Vaart to the squad brings the total number up to five. The only nationality with a larger representation is, obviously, Spanish.
The Dutchmen have all, so far, integrated well at the club, and there are no obvious cliques being formed. Without generalising about national traits (a futile exercise, in any case), there is a feeling that these signings are contributing to building a more compact, resilient squad. More of a team than a bunch of talented individuals, in other words. And that can only be a good thing in the long run.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Bye Bye Brazil, Hello Holland
Sunday, 29 July 2007
First indications
An undemanding friendly against English 'Championship' side Stoke City gave the first clues to Bernd Schuster's approach at the helm of Real Madrid. The 2-0 final scoreline, with goals from Raúl (showing a bit of the class of old) and a penalty converted by Soldado ensured a victorious start to the games Real will play in the preseason before the start of the Spanish League on the 25th August.
In front of the unsurprising starting back four (Ramos, Pepe, Metzelder and Torres), Diarra will perform his usual defensive role, allowing the two wing backs to attack. The back line plays in a more advanced position than under Capello, some 35 metres from the goal line, and the whole eleven is compressed into a 30-metre wide band on the pitch to allow for all the players to put pressure on the opposition and retrieve the ball. Guti played in the 'midfield general' role, but I suspect this won't be the case on a full time basis, given his propensity to 'disappear' in certain games. Schuster has already expresed an interest in a player like Chelsea's Michael Ballack to fill this role.
After the game, Cicinho decided to publicly complain about being played on the left, stating that if he doesn't get to played on his favoured right wing, he would do better to leave the club. True, he's got his work cut out to displace Ramos from the starting eleven, but I suspect Salgado won't get as many starts this year as he's been used to in the past. Cicinho played on the left in the second half because with Roberto Carlos's departure, and the fact that Marcelo is still not back from international duty (plus he's still considered potentially too 'green' for the task and may get a year's loan) the squad has no cover on that side of defence. This is why Feyenoord's Royston Drenthe has been the subject of transfer speculation during the summer. Schuster reportedly had words with Cicinho and during Sunday's training session, the Brazilian played in his accustomed right side. Hopefully, this kind of public show of discontent won't become a feature under Schuster.
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
The Twin Towers
Christoph Metzelder has known for some months that he would be joining Real Madrid in the summer. Today, he was finally officially presented as the first signing under the new Bernd Schuster régime. This marks the second (after Schuster himself) in a week of new signings, as yesterday's surprise announcement, Pepe, passed his medical and will be presented tomorrow, and Javier Saviola, who finished his contract with Barcelona on June 30th, is expected to agree terms and be presented on Friday.
Metzelder himself has been working hard to make a good first impression and demonstrated at his presentation that he has been learning Spanish in recent months. His formidable height (1.93 metres) and cool demeanour won him the title of 'Best Young Player' in the 2002 World Cup and will make him a very valuable addition to the centre of defence. He has suffered more than his fair share of injuries, missing the entire 2003-2004 season with an achilles tendon problem, and, more recently, he had a knee cartilage operation in September 2006. These injury problems have made him seem a bit of a gamble for any club to take him on, but his obvious talent, and the fact that he is a free agent, probably decided Real Madrid to take the chance. It should be noted that he has only signed on for three years, instead of the usual four or five for a player of his age (26), so this is perhaps another instance of the club hedging their bets.
The signing of two tall central defenders (Pepe is 1.88 metres tall), who are good in the air and can also play the ball intelligently supports Schuster's intention to play with defenders in more advanced positions and speed up getting the ball to the forwards. Real Madrid has also reinforced the view that Sergio Ramos is one of the top players in his position by doubling his salary and increasing his buy-out clause. With Cicinho recovered and also covering the right wing, things don't look too good for Salgado this season. The left wing is presumably Miguel Torres's to keep, with Marcelo as possible cover, although there have been plenty of rumours about the club looking to reinforce this position with young Dutch sensation Royston Drenthe.
