Real Madrid Potential Summer Transfers - Chapter 1

The Spanish season is for all intents and purposes done and decided, and since I couldn’t gather enough energy from the Fiorentina-Rangers snooze-fest, I thought I would give my opinions on potential summer transfers for Real Madrid. Word out of the Ciudad Real Madrid is that they will not be big players in this years transfer market, and will have to sell a few folks in order to buy. I like that type of fiscal responsibility, but we will have to see if Mijatovic holds Schuster to that. Here are the players I would sell:

Cassano – he is back playing with Sampdoria after his five match suspension for being an asshole (again). If Madrid can get even €1 million for him from Sampdoria they should be happy.
Granero – Playing well on loan at Getafe, Madrid should cash in before his horrible beard and obsession with Chinese food and culture overshadow his playing.
Diarra – I never got what they loved about Diarra; to me he doesn’t do anything that well, except foul. Which he is an expert at. If they can get half what they paid for him, they should do it. They will always have Sergio Ramos, Pepe, and Guti to foul for them.
Saviola – I like el canejo, and feel like he could add something to Madrid, but if they grab another striker I just don’t see room for him. The upside is that whatever they can get for him is gravy, since he came over on a free transfer. Plus getting €5 million per year off the books helps pay wages of one or two new guys.
Soldado – The fact that they need a striker badly, and he still can’t get any starts says a lot about his future. I don’t think I have seen him play once for Madrid, but he looked okay in the year he spent in Pamplona. I’d like to see them do a De la Red with him and sell him with an option to buy back once Raul/Van Nistelrooy are retired.
Michel Salgado – It was a great run for a man who was, in the early part of this decade arguably the best right back in Spain. I always thought he was an underappreciated, integral part of the last two merengeue champions league winners. It is also sad to see another Spaniard on his way out; in the 2002 Champions League final, 11 of the 18 available players were Spanish, including 6 starters. If they had made a champions League final this year [I can dream, can’t I], they would have probably started only four Spaniards [Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Guti, and Raul],with perhaps only Torres available as a substitute. And this concludes your Sepp Blatter anti-foreign players in European football portion of our blog.
Julio Baptista – I have always enjoyed the beast’s abilities and hard nosed on-field approach, but I am just not sure where he fits in. I think a trip to Italy, or to Fenerbache as has been recently discussed would be a good move. He never felt comfortable in any position they put him in. In realty, I think he should be playing in the position right behind the forward(s), but that is and will be Raul territory. Madrid could get some good coin for a player of his ability, and should cash in while he still has some worth.

Onto the transfer targets; assuming you want roughly a 2:1 or at the most 3:1 payable/receivable ledger in the summer, I think you might only get one or two big name, and then a couple minor ones. I can’t see them getting more than €20-25 million for those players I mentioned going out. I would think they need one striker, one midfielder [preferably of the right-footed variety], and possibly one more defender who can play in the middle or on the right. We’ll start today with the strikers you hear the most of as targets, in order of how likely I think it is they will come:

Didier Drogba – I hate everything about him, from his diving, whining, and fighting with teammates to his disgusting hair but he does score goals. I am not sure I could turn around and root for him, but he would be a great two year solution. I am not sure I would spend that kind of cash for a 30-year old striker though.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – More my kind of guy, young, does everything well, and has one of the great strike records in Europe for both club and country. Nothing flash, but he gets the job done. He would be my preferred target.
Ibrahimovic – Young enough, but I just don’t think he is the type of guy to get you 25 goals in a season in Spain. More like a consistent 15 goals a year guy.
David Villa – I think the Asturian he would be a good signing, but I see him going to Tottenham, despite recent reports to the contrary. I think it would be nice to get another top-notch Spaniard in the squad, since Rual and Guti are up there in age.
Cristiano Ronaldo – Keep dreaming madristas, keep dreaming. United will not sell him for all the olive oil in Andalusia.