Cristiano Crusade

You cannot pick up an issue of either the British or the Madrid sports press without reading some story about Cristiano Ronaldo's proposed transfer to Real Madrid, each more outlandish than the last: 80 million euros, 50 million euros plus Ramos, Diarra and Robinho, 30 million euros plus a treasure map to the mythical Eldorado (only one of those is made up, by me anyway). It's getting increasingly tedious and with over 3 months left until the closing of the transfer window on 31st August, it can only get more so as the summer progresses. Regardless of the level of truth in these reports, the real question that should be posed concerning the motives behind such an environmentally unfriendly waste of trees and ink is: cui bono?

First and foremost, those who stand to profit either way are the press: it's in their interests to keep this going as long as possible, so people can keep buying papers in the lulls between seasons. Expect it to be particularly intense between now and the start of Euro 2008 on 7th June, and to pick up either immediately afterwards (29th June) or as soon as Spain is knocked out of the competition. However, while the press clearly manufacture stories to continue whipping up interest (the one about an official Real Madrid club car with some documents with Cristiano Ronaldo's name on them is particularly clumsy), there would be little to keep this going without the collusion of other characters adding their little bit of fuel to the fire.

The principal suspect in this is Cristiano Ronaldo himself (or his agent). Although he signed a new deal tying him to Manchester United until 2012 just over a year ago, his impressive season (he has scored a whopping 42 goals in all competitions) means he may be trying to capitalise and strike (no pun intended) while the iron is hot. His current deal at United includes an annual salary of over £6 million for the next four years. However, the recent Webster ruling means that he can leave in 2010 by compensating United for one year's salary if he doesn't renew his contract (under the rule, any player aged between 23 and 28 can walk away from his club, as long as he has served three years out of a four or five-year contract). Ale, at The Offside, puts it best with: "Ronaldo, as usual, spent his day frustrating everyone again with claims of 'I dream of playing for Real Madrid' and 'My head is in Manchester.' Just come out with it and say 'I want a new contract or I go to Madrid.' Problem solved."

Let's not forget however, that others may seek to benefit from all this media mayhem. Real Madrid, or to be more precise, president Calderón, has had a bit of a torrid time recently despite being at the helm of a side that's won back-to-back league championships. Add to that the fact that certain sectors won't let him forget that of the three players he promised as part of his electoral campaign two years ago (Robben, Cesc, Kaka), he has only managed to deliver one to Real Madrid. While he mounted an ultimately unsuccessful media offensive for Kaka last year, he may have decided to deflect attention by continuing to feed the press little snippets about how welcome Cristiano would be at Real Madrid.

Finally, and this may be a little bit of a stretch, Manchester United may be using the whole affair to keep the British press occupied while they quietly go about building up their squad for next season. They did well on the transfer market last summer by signing up a couple of highly rated Portuguese youngsters (Nani and Anderson) catching everyone else on the hop. I suspect however, that if this is happening, it's more of a case of taking advantage of the current situation than of the club trying to manipulate events. Alex Ferguson's recent tirade against Real Madrid is just the Scot being his usual prickly self (and there's plenty of non-Manchester supporters saying this is just a case of the pot calling the kettle black).

Ultimately, I believe this is all so much summer hot air. Real don't need Cristiano (certainly not at the prices being quoted) and Cristiano doesn't need Real Madrid: he has just won the Champions League with a relatively young side and would his international profile really be much bigger at the Spanish club? There would probably be more chance of Real launching a ridiculous bid for him if they had not won anything for a couple of seasons or if they were in the middle of presidential elections. As it is, their money would be better spent on reinforcing the squad and offloading some of the underperforming players.

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Garay in, but who's out?

With the Bernabéu not yet cleaned of the many tons of confetti poured from the stands following Sunday night's celebrations, Real Madrid have been quick off the mark announcing a new signing. Ezequiel Garay, Racing de Santander's highly rated Argentine central defender, is set to join Real for a cool 10 million euros in cash. What is currently not clear is whether he will be joining the squad this season or the next; the reasons for this will probably become clearer as the summer progresses.

Real Madrid currently has a potential surfeit of players in the central defender role: Pepe, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Heinze (who also doubles up as left back) and Ramos when there's noone else. Buying a new, young player (Garay's 21) makes sense if you're thinking of easing out one of your veterans, or someone who's simply not working out. Of the five above, it looks like only Cannavaro and Metzelder fit the bill. The Ballon d'or and World Cup winning Italian captain has one more year left on his contract. Metzelder, on the other hand, has a further two years left to run on the contract he signed last summer, plus he's had a bad run of injuries this season which have prevented him from really showing whether he will fit into the squad.

So it looks like Real will either try to sell Cannavaro over the summer and try to recoup a portion of the 15 million euros spent on him, or else see out his contract and pick up Garay in 2009. For his part, Garay joined Racing de Santander for a measly 2 million euros in 2005 as a 19-year-old and has proved to be a regular starter for the Cantabrian club, scoring several goals per season. He has been capped once with the senior Argentina squad, in a friendly against Norway in August 2007.

Garay was the subject of transfer speculation earlier in the year, when clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Lyon and Tottenham reportedly interested in bidding for his services. It then looked like a done deal with Barcelona as Racing president Francisco Pernía claimed that "he would be really surprised" if Garay joined any other club over the summer. However, the 18 million euro price tag proved too rich for Barcelona and the deal collapsed. With Manchester United still in the hunt, it's somewhat surprising that Real have managed to close a deal for 10 million euros, although perhaps this has something to do with the fact that it's "cash in hand" rather than over several instalments.

The signing of Garay was recommended by both Pedja Mijatovic and Miguel Angel Portugal. Portugal has a much lower public profile than Mijatovic, but as much, or possibly even more influence at the club. He is also the former coach of Racing de Santander, which means he has first-hand knowledge of Garay's abilities. Jpx, calling Portugal's approach 'the art of silence', argues that it makes a refreshing change to see someone being signed for a reasonable price (given the market) and without all the speculation and fanfare that ussually accompanies these things. I couldn't agree more.

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Party night

It was more than the kickabout that was feared when the Levante players went on strike earlier in the week, though there was not a great deal of tension on the pitch with nothing competitive to play for from either side. The game was on, the party atmosphere was palpable from before kick-off and continued until the final whistle. Seven goals later, the party itself could start: the lights, the music, the fireworks...

Levante played with more verve and vigour than might be expected of a squad not just worried about where their next paycheque could be coming from; they also did not train all week, as they made it clear they would not be deflected from their intention to refuse to play if no agreement was reached. In fact, the kind of spirit they showed against Real Madrid makes one wonder if their results were more conditioned by their psychological state than by any intrinsic lack of talent compared to the other sides in the Primera División.

On the day however, the difference between first and last was too much for Levante: a brace each from a clinical Van Nistelrooy and an exuberant Sergio Ramos, plus an absolute scorcher of a free kick from Sneijder that was as good as, if not better, than anything David Beckham could have done. Levante's goals were both by Geijo, although it was the provider on both instances, Courtois, who should take most of the credit. This is not to take anything away from the young reserve keeper Jordi Codina, who acquitted himself well and shows that there's plenty of Spanish goalkeeping talent coming up through the ranks.

The next few days and weeks will see the usual media speculation about who's going, who's staying , and who's joining, with a 3-week hiatus in June for Euro 2008. For now, however, it's time to celebrate the first back-to-back titles in 18 years. Coincidentally, Bernd Schuster was a Real Madrid player for those two seasons between 1988 and 1990 and this hat-trick makes him the fifth person to win the title both as player and coach. He joins the illustrious ranks of the legendary Miguel Muñoz, as well as Luis Molowny, Jorge Valdano and Vicente del Bosque.

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Reform proposals rejected

If after winning two consecutive league titles, Ramón Calderón cannot ease through his desired reforms to the club's statutes, it is hard to see whether he will ever be able to. At today's Extraordinary General Assembly, the proposals were heavily rejected (by 682 votes to 150, with 34 abstentions) by the current raft of socios compromisarios. Many of those present called for the president's resignation, criticising him for "dragging the club through the courts".

In a tense three-and-a-half hour meeting, the legality of the proposals was questioned, and they were criticised for giving too much power to the board of directors at the expense of the socios. As this was an all-or-nothing vote, it was not possible to at least address the serious issues regarding the electoral procedures that caused all the legal problems following the last presidential election. However, as the current process has been deemed to be illegal by a Madrid court, something will have to be done before any new elections can take place (in theory, not due until 2010).

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Game On

The Levante players confirmed at a press conference today that they had called off their strike and would play the last game of the season at the Bernabéu tonight. The players, who have not trained all week, have been asking for all their unpaid salary contributions over the past couple of seasons to be guaranteed and were using the game against Real Madrid as a very visible platform for their demands.

Earlier in the week, Bernd Schuster had said that the striking players had probably not picked the best game for their protest, as it would have been better to target games where there was something in play. Some intense negotiations, however, seem to have resulted in an agreement, described as "in extremis" by Levante captain Luis Manuel Rubiales. This agreement includes at least one and possibly two fundraising games (the first planned for next January) between the Levante squad and a selection of players from the Spanish league. Rubiales praised Real Madrid who had agreed to allow the Bernabéu to be used for the games at no cost and the players of both Real Madrid and Barcelona who made commitments to take part in the matches.

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