According to Marca:
http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/1a_division/real_madrid/es/desarrollo/1124901.html


WTF?????!!!! How is this possible? Racing were asking us for an incredible 18 million euros, which is why we pulled out despite having verbal agreement a couple of months back.

I hope this isn't true...it's an absolute steal, whereas we're paying 5 million euros to bring back a canterano (even though he's an excellent player)

Clearly RM have resorted to their USUAL underhanded tactic....!!!

Can they not be reported to some Govt. corruption dept?

Dick Grayson wrote:Clearly RM have resorted to their USUAL underhanded tactic....!!!

Can they not be reported to some Govt. corruption dept?

Asking the government to discipline Madrid is like asking a mother to discipline her own child.


If this is true, I hope Racing go down next season, and get knocked out of the UEFA cup by Zyglyzeg Zubrsak in the 1st round

You are getting Pique for 6m pounds though , appearances and all ,but that is how all deals are concluded.

Despite Pique, I was still hoping we would sign Garay...there's still room for him if we get rid of useless Marquez. Garay will be Thuram's replacement as CB, and Pique will be Marquez's replacement as CB/DM.

Puyol-Milito with Garay-Pique as backups, and Pique can cover for Toure as well at DM. If we sign Keita, that'll make it 2 players away on African Cup duty every 2 years, so DM, or midfield cover in general, is essential.

I would not have a problem if we were also quoted 10m and still pulled out...in that case I would be angry at Txiki for not going through. What I want to know is why and how Madrid managed to get him at this price, esp. considering how $h!t they are at transfers, always overpaying.

And Pique, who's hardly ever played for you and had just 1 season in La Liga (even then not always starting), going for half the price of Garay, who's a starter for his team and proved himself brilliantly for 2 seasons, is more than fair IMO.

kas wrote:

Dick Grayson wrote:Clearly RM have resorted to their USUAL underhanded tactic....!!!

Can they not be reported to some Govt. corruption dept?

Asking the government to discipline Madrid is like asking a mother to discipline her own child.


If this is true, I hope Racing go down next season, and get knocked out of the UEFA cup by Zyglyzeg Zubrsak in the 1st round

Fantastic signing if true and a steal at that price too. Was hoping Atleti would be in for him, as he is CL pedigree (or certainly will be in the future)

It's odd because the most recent rumours were linking us heavily with Caceres. I'd still prefer Jarque but Garay is a very talented young defender and that would be an outstanding price (can't believe Pedja could manage it TBH). If it's true, which it may not be, it will now really be interesting to see what happens with Metzelder, Cannavaro, and to a less extent, Heinze.

I think one of Metzelder and Cannavaro will be sold. It all depends on Euro 2008 - if Metzelder stays fit throughout and Germany are good defensively, Spurs or other English clubs will be falling over themselves to sign him. So you can easily get the 10 million euros for Garay back.

Cannavaro may only go to Napoli if they get to the UEFA from the Intertoto, otherwise they'll wait for him on a free next summer.

One thing that did just occur to me, I don't believe that Garay is carries an EU passport. That would leave us with four: Robinho, Marcelo, and Diarra being the other three.

Hmmm....

http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/1a_division/racing/es/desarrollo/1124966.html

This part did confuse me a bit:

"Tenemos un compromiso y es además que se quede el jugador el año que viene aquí", comentó.

Maybe that's why the fee was lower, because it's in advance, and he'll only move when Cannavaro leaves next summer?

Though in another article I also saw that he is supposedly on the verge of becoming EU.

I havent seen much of him in the last two seasons allthough i heard alot of praise but i figured it was mostly down to him getting 10 goals or so for a defender. if the figure is true then its great but more importantly strange because no way would Racing charge barca more then us with mijatovics reputation for buying.

Super Madrid wrote:I havent seen much of him in the last two seasons allthough i heard alot of praise but i figured it was mostly down to him getting 10 goals or so for a defender. if the figure is true then its great but more importantly strange because no way would Racing charge barca more then us with mijatovics reputation for buying.

But we have a good relationship with Racing; we have loaned them several players in the past few years and we let them have Munitis for free. Portugal was with them for a while before coming to us so I think it makes sense.

Ok i just read it several of places and it seems we got the price right. cant belive Mijatovic pulled this one off. allthough perhaps it has more to do with our relationship like Jaime said. great deal if he is really all what he is hyped up to be. what are his qualities. have barely noticed him in Racing games.

Good in the air, good with the ball at his feet, hits a great free kick and has been taking penalties for Racing as well.

Jaime wrote:Good in the air, good with the ball at his feet, hits a great free kick and has been taking penalties for Racing as well.

Sounds much like Pepe to me in the sense that he seems very complete. either way its a great first signing for us which leaves us finished in the defensive apartment imo. im also reading that Shuster doesnt want to use DLR to do transfers which is great news for us. now we just need a striker instead of saviola and soldado or perhaps two. dont really have any idea who to get here.
Milito is prob going to napoli but we should get a good price for Olivera who has proven to me this season that he wasnt just a one season wonder cough Jaime cough.

The Caceres rumour was troubling because it involved De la Red going to Villarreal but with Garay surely we won't be pursuing the Uruguayan defender and hopefully Ruben will stay with us.

You can't be serious that you really want us to go for Oliveira. Of all the strikers out there and you want a medicore brasilian. Might as well keep Saviola in that case.

Jaime wrote:The Caceres rumour was troubling because it involved De la Red going to Villarreal but with Garay surely we won't be pursuing the Uruguayan defender and hopefully Ruben will stay with us.

You can't be serious that you really want us to go for Oliveira. Of all the strikers out there and you want a medicore brasilian. Might as well keep Saviola in that case.

How can you deny that he has been a high scoring striker in la liga two times now. he has proven to be very dangerous at times. i remember he tore barcas defence apart when they met. he would be much better then saviola. he would come on a cheap aswell so give me on thing that saviola or any other striker you want us to get has over him?

Yeah, and in between he's had very mediocre seasons at Valencia and Milan. He's good for mid-table teams (e.g. Betis and Zaragoza) but he's not up to the standard for a top club.

Garay has been injured for part of the season hasn't he?

I'll imagine he'll start in the Olympics (probably with Gonzalo) so it'll be interesting to see how he does

Jaime wrote:Yeah, and in between he's had very mediocre seasons at Valencia and Milan. He's good for mid-table teams (e.g. Betis and Zaragoza) but he's not up to the standard for a top club.

that can all be explained.
Valencia was his first season in a europe and if i remember correctly he got two hatricks in that season. for Milan his brother or sister got kidnapped while he was playing so he couldnt focus on football for much of the time which is understandable. i would gladly take the chance on him since he would be better then Saviola and imo Soldado.

allthough my prefered striker is Adriano who would come on a cheap and if he can continue his upward form he can become the best striker in the world.

Calidad wrote:Garay has been injured for part of the season hasn't he?

I'll imagine he'll start in the Olympics (probably with Gonzalo) so it'll be interesting to see how he does

I knew there was a catch to this. why cant we get defenders who arent always injuried.

Super Madrid wrote:

Jaime wrote:Yeah, and in between he's had very mediocre seasons at Valencia and Milan. He's good for mid-table teams (e.g. Betis and Zaragoza) but he's not up to the standard for a top club.

that can all be explained.
Valencia was his first season in a europe and if i remember correctly he got two hatricks in that season. for Milan his brother or sister got kidnapped while he was playing so he couldnt focus on football for much of the time which is understandable. i would gladly take the chance on him since he would be better then Saviola and imo Soldado.

allthough my prefered striker is Adriano who would come on a cheap and if he can continue his upward form he can become the best striker in the world.

No thank you to both!

Jaime wrote:

Super Madrid wrote:

Jaime wrote:Yeah, and in between he's had very mediocre seasons at Valencia and Milan. He's good for mid-table teams (e.g. Betis and Zaragoza) but he's not up to the standard for a top club.

that can all be explained.
Valencia was his first season in a europe and if i remember correctly he got two hatricks in that season. for Milan his brother or sister got kidnapped while he was playing so he couldnt focus on football for much of the time which is understandable. i would gladly take the chance on him since he would be better then Saviola and imo Soldado.

allthough my prefered striker is Adriano who would come on a cheap and if he can continue his upward form he can become the best striker in the world.

No thank you to both!

I gues you dont want to know my plans for Cassano at Real Madrid either.

F*cking hell, you're killing me!

What can i say i liked flawed genius'. i think we need some star power and a player or two who can really do something when we need it against good oposition. currently we dont have that allthough Robinho could become such a threat if he wants to.
Cassano and Adriano both provides such a threat. Drogba could be an option aswell since he creates big problems for defenders and he wants to leave this summer. only problem is that he is thirty.

Super Madrid wrote:What can i say i liked flawed genius'. i think we need some star power and a player or two who can really do something when we need it against good oposition. currently we dont have that allthough Robinho could become such a threat if he wants to.
Cassano and Adriano both provides such a threat. Drogba could be an option aswell since he creates big problems for defenders and he wants to leave this summer. only problem is that he is thirty.

In theory, but in practice I think we have no evidence to suggest this is true. Maybe if we were playing Football Manager.

Drogba is a good player, much better than I gave him credit for when he first went to Cheslea. But we already have Ruud. We don't need another 30+ year old centre forward. We need to bring someone a bit younger.

Jaime wrote:

Super Madrid wrote:What can i say i liked flawed genius'. i think we need some star power and a player or two who can really do something when we need it against good oposition. currently we dont have that allthough Robinho could become such a threat if he wants to.
Cassano and Adriano both provides such a threat. Drogba could be an option aswell since he creates big problems for defenders and he wants to leave this summer. only problem is that he is thirty.

In theory, but in practice I think we have no evidence to suggest this is true. Maybe if we were playing Football Manager.

Drogba is a good player, much better than I gave him credit for when he first went to Cheslea. But we already have Ruud. We don't need another 30+ year old centre forward. We need to bring someone a bit younger.

Im guesing you havent seen Cassano much this season? He has been great for Sampdoria. he is a genius but the problem is that he is a hothead who could mess up things in the dressing room. Drogba is 30 while Ruud will be 32 this year. i cant really think of any strikers on the top of my head that we could get.
Amauri is signing for Milan it seems. Villa might be an option but we would have to fork out alot.

Super Madrid wrote:

Jaime wrote:

Super Madrid wrote:What can i say i liked flawed genius'. i think we need some star power and a player or two who can really do something when we need it against good oposition. currently we dont have that allthough Robinho could become such a threat if he wants to.
Cassano and Adriano both provides such a threat. Drogba could be an option aswell since he creates big problems for defenders and he wants to leave this summer. only problem is that he is thirty.

In theory, but in practice I think we have no evidence to suggest this is true. Maybe if we were playing Football Manager.

Drogba is a good player, much better than I gave him credit for when he first went to Cheslea. But we already have Ruud. We don't need another 30+ year old centre forward. We need to bring someone a bit younger.

Im guesing you havent seen Cassano much this season? He has been great for Sampdoria. he is a genius but the problem is that he is a hothead who could mess up things in the dressing room. Drogba is 30 while Ruud will be 32 this year. i cant really think of any strikers on the top of my head that we could get.
Amauri is signing for Milan it seems. Villa might be an option but we would have to fork out alot.

Exactly why I don't give a flying f*ck how good he has been at Sampdoria, I don't want him any where near Madrid. For any reason. Ever.

If the rumours are correct and we could get Villa for 35m. euro straight; I don't think that is a lot relative to his talent and his age.

That is alot of money though but then again i dont think we will be able to get a much better player at that age who is also spanish. i hope he doesnt leave valencia so they remain strong but if he really wants to leave then we should defo get into that one but it could be messy with Liverpool also being interested.