La Liga news round-up: more transfer market insanity

Transfer insanity continues apace, with the rich clubs splashing the cash like there's no tomorrow and the less rich clubs trading players like a particularly demented version of Wife Swap. If you speak Spanish, reputable newspaper El Pais has a good list of all the transfer activity so far.

Barcelona

Our 4th and last signing of this transfer window, barring any unforeseeable events, has finally been officially confirmed: Argentinean central defender Gabriel Alexander Milito is now a Barca player for a cool 17 million euros, with an additional 3.5 million conditional on trophies. The Real Zaragoza captain will arrive after the conclusion of the Copa America, where he is currently preparing for the final against Brazil, and sign a 4 year deal.

Most Barca supporters seem quite happy with this move, although some are wincing at the price tag. Given the currently ridiculous levels of inflation in the transfer market, though, I'm not sure we could have done much better. If you've been watching the Copa America, you'll have noticed that Milito's pretty slow. But having said that, he's also got a fantastic sense of positioning and I've been particularly impressed with the way he copes with high balls.

Welcome, Gabi.

The club have indicated that having achieved their signing objectives of a forward, a centerback, a leftback and a defensive midfielder at considerable expense (65 million euros total, and that's not counting the trophy bonuses), they will now turn their focus towards ushering those deemed surplus to requirements out the door. Rijkaard's preference for a small squad of 23 players or less is well known, so we can expect at least 3 more players out of the current group of 26 (including Gio Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, who are being promoted to the first team, with both expecting to agree professional terms with Barca) to leave.

For those of you who were concerned about the various transfer rumours surrounding Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco, president Joan Laporta has promised that none of them are for sale. Although, frankly, if Milan really were crazy enough to shell out for Ronaldinho's buy-out clause, I could see the logic in letting him go, much as I admire the Brazilian's skills. That buy-out clause? 125 million euros. Some second division teams' entire first XIs aren't worth that much money. More to the point, that much money could fund Barca's transfer spending for a good 3 seasons.

Laporta also spoke his mind on Javier Saviola joining Real Madrid as a free agent, more on which later on in this post. He didn't condemn the move, but he didn't exactly sound approving, either. Not that Saviola will care what Laporta - who, it must be said, was the cause of some of Saviola's problems at Barca - thinks.

Confusingly, Belletti's agent claims that his client isn't looking to leave Barca, despite having complained loudly about lack of playing time at the end of the 06-07 season and having threatened to look elsewhere for opportunities. He also confirms Roma's interest. So let me get this straight: he's definitely leaving, and you're just trying to drive down the price so he can get a decent deal. Great.

Lastly, Yaya Toure speaks about his desire to win the Champions League with Barca (join the club, lad, you're far from the only one thinking that) and his admiration of Frank Rijkaard.

Real Madrid

Real shocked everybody by announcing the prompt signing of Porto's young Brazilian-born defender Pepe for - allegedly - a whopping 30 million euros. At first glance, this is a puzzling bit of business, although the quiet efficiency with which the deal was done is very impressive. Real are probably in need of a defender, but they just signed the highly rated Christopher Metzelder for free. Surely 30 million euros is a bit much to be spending on an uncapped young player who's unproven in Spain. I have no doubt that Pepe is very talented and will prove useful for Real, who've had trouble with the centerback position in the past. (For more discussion of Pepe's signing and issues associated with Real's defence, see the recent posts by Gonzalo at All In White.)

Iker Casillas has already come out in defence of the price tag. He makes a lot of sense, as always, although my personal theory regarding the price tag is that the 'blame' can be laid squarely at the door of the Porto chairman, who has done some very good business in the past: 30 million euros for Ricardo Carvalho, 20 million euros for Paulo Ferreira, 15 million euros for Maniche (!) and so on.

More boardroom business: Sergio Ramos has got himself a much deserved pay rise after his impressive performances of the last few seasons and striker Roberto Soldado has earned himself a nice five year contract after having a good season on loan at Osasuna.

I'm going to remain in denial about the latest Real signing until he's presented in a white kit, but it seems to be official: Javier Saviola has joined as a free agent. Isaiah over at the Barcelona Offside and most of the commenters there are taking it much better than I am. It's not that I dislike him - far from it. I'm quite fond of Saviola. But I'm cringing in anticipation of his first visit to the Camp Nou now.

It wasn't a wise move in that sense, in my opinion, although it's nowhere near a Luis Figo-type case, but also I can't see how he's going to get regular playing time, which is a concern of mine because I support the Albiceleste. This is Real's current striker list: Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul, Robinho, Gonzalo Higuain, Antonio Cassano, Roberto Soldado. So how many of those are Schuster going to play in his formation? 2 or 3, most likely, and you'd think van Nistelrooy and Raul will be default starters. We'll see, I suppose. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, Madridistas.)

Sevilla

(Allegedly) batty president del Nido has reacted predictably to Freddie Kanoute's frank request for a (probably deserved) pay rise - I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a massive contract right now - by pretty much flipping him the metaphorical finger. Kanoute has already had a 15 million euro price tag slapped on him, so watch this space.

Meanwhile, the club have signed Malian international Seydou Keita from Lens on a four year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Atletico

Atletico presented young Brazilian striker Diego Costa da Silva, but confusingly enough he's probably not going to play for them in 07-08.

Their failure to qualify directly for the UEFA Cup in 06-07 has seen Atletico's players 'punished' with having to cut their vacations short and start pre-season early to get ready in time for the Intertoto Cup. Coach Javier Aguirre held his first press conference of the season and discussed the impending campaign.

Others

New Recreativo coach Victor Munoz spoke about the difficulties he anticipates for the club in their second season, and having had a glance at that list of departing players at the end of that article, I agree with him. Yikes. They need some signings, alright.

In departures, having already lost captain Arruabarrena to AEK Athens and Diego Forlan to Atletico Madrid, Villarreal have also lost influential midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi, who has ended his loan period and returned to Juventus, where he's looking to join another Italian club.

Relegated Real Sociedad have let midfielder Mikel Alonso - brother of Xabi - go on loan to Bolton. I promise I'll stop writing about La Real soon, but they've just been relegated after all.

Lastly, Depor, Mallorca and Betis can give themselves a pat on the back for one excellent signing each. Betis have secured themselves a replacement for dodgy 'keeper Toni Doblas in Sporting Lisbon's Ricardo Pereira - yes, that Ricardo, and he only cost 3 million euros. I'm looking forward to having the Portuguese no.1 in La Liga.

Mallorca have signed Cameroonian forward Pierre Webo, who just left Osasuna on a free transfer. They do need a goalscorer, especially after selling one of their only decent attacking players in the form of Bosko Jankovic (the other one is the Venezuelan Arango) and Webo's a fairly good one who knows La Liga.

In my last round-up post, I wrote about the hole Depor have found themselves in. They avoided a relegation struggle in 06-07 chiefly because they could defend a bit, and now they've sold several of their best defenders (Capdevila to Villarreal, Andrade to Juventus) and are looking to flog another decent one in the form of Fabricio Coloccini to Zaragoza.

Not sure how they're going to line up defensively in the new season, but at least they've started splashing some of the cash they got from those sales in order to solve their attacking problems. Signing promising young Mexican Andres Guardado from Atlas for around 7 million euros is a good start. He's a fine midfielder and I'm very much looking forward to seeing him play in Spain. Depor fans must feel slightly better about the next season now - although they're not out of the financial doghouse yet.

Barca drama: the resolution (in quotes)

From the Guardian's Fiver:

"People think that there is a time bomb in the dressing room, but that isn't true. [Frank] Rijkaard has got the team under control. Samuel Eto'o has a good relationship with the rest of the group and the atmosphere is good" - What next from Barcelona captain Carles Puyol? The Palestinians and Israelis secretly get on?

Despite the Fiver's snarky comment, Puyol is right. The problem isn't in the dressing room, it's in the boardroom.

The players resolved their issues by...wait for it...talking about their feelings. Quoth Puyol in his press conference:

"I arrived 8.45 am and Samuel was already in the dressing room,"he said. "We held the meeting and then Rijkaard came in and we spoke to the rest of the players after that. In the meeting the captains all talked about the two of them (Eto'o and Ronaldinho) and everything was sorted out and this made us more united. We have to be together with the games that lie ahead. "If training on Wednesday is anything to go by, it was plain to see that this has made us even more focussed. It was one of the best training sessions I can remember during my time at the club."

"I talk to the president and we though that should be soughted out and that is what has happened," Puyol explained. "It was very easy because when people speak they understand better."

And they say men don't do things like that. Rijkaard, at least, appreciated the effort.

[Rijkaard] had a special mention for skipper Carles Puyol, who is said to have stepped up and played a pivotal part in ensuring things were sorted out swiftly and with maturity. He also took the lead in speaking to the media earlier this afternoon, and pulling down the curtains

"When people like Puyol are around, it affects the team very positively," said the Dutchman.

Indeed. The captain has been immense throughout this mess. A lot gets said about the man, but it can't be repeated enough - he embodies some of the best things about the Barca ideal, and he is (qouting Sylvinho here) this squad's soul.

For his part, Deco revealed that the hug between Ronaldinho and Eto'o in training on Wednesday - lapped up by the press - was staged for just such a purpose. But not the way you think:

"The press were anxious to see something and they talked about giving each other a hug to see their reaction," Deco told Radio Marca. "There weren't any problems, everything had been sorted out before and they just wanted to see how people reacted. It was a bit of a joke really."

Finally, Rijkaard spoke up again to (hopefully) wrap up the whole affair:

Rijkaard, meanwhile, confirmed that "there will be no sanctions for Eto'o, because I believe in solving things amicably in the dressing room."

He insisted that he was not looking for any apologies, because the issue has already been put behind: "I am not waiting for apologies, it is all already water under the bridge, and we have to look ahead. There is no issue. The squad is united, and that is enough motivation to continue working. I am delighted, because the dressing room is very sensible. When moments like these arrive, they still choose to learn from it."

While the whole issue of Rossell v Laporta will have to be laid to rest sometime in the future (and yes, that's exactly what this whole bloody feud is all about), right now it's best to concern oursevles with the football side of things, and I'm glad to see that this is what everyone at the club is now trying to do. Nice containment work from the suits.

(I am a politics major, so I'm allowed to admire these things, as disingenious as they almost always are.)

The Madrid press have been feasting on all this, of course, and no one can blame them - the Barca press has been doing it for the last few seasons, after all. But thank God for true gentlemen like Iker Casillas (one of Eto'o's best friends), who when asked to comment on the 'crisis' said:

"It [the Eto'o controversy] is something for the press to feast on, rather than good news for us," said Casillas during a press conference, when asked if Barcelona's problems could be good news for Real Madrid. "A lot is being made of it, but the fact is that there are some problems in every single squad, and that's just how it is. If Barcelona are in crisis, then we are in sheer darkness. It is laughable to to even suggest that they are in a crisis."

Amen.

Bonus: this gem from the Barca website's training report for Wednesday -

Eto'o completed his training programme by taking shots at goal with Rijkaard supplying the passes from the side.

I don't know why, but the image gave me a good laugh. (Rijkaard was a scary player, though, wasn't he?)

quick comments on lyon vs real madrid

1. Is Juninho the best free-kick taker in Europe? And I say this as a Riquelme fan.

2. Is Casillas the hardest working 'keeper of all the pot-1 teams?

3. The Real defence disease of incompetence is contagious. Poor Cannavaro.

4. How much is Diarra actually worth?

5. What does it take for Raul to be dropped?