Real Madrid circa 2000-2006 were a very special team under president Florentino Perez. In fairness maybe that should have been 2000-2003 when he foolishly let Claude Makelele leave so let’s hope Perez has learnt his lesson this time around. They’ve taken Kaka to the Bernabeu now and I for one am hoping for a rejuvenated Real side next season and a return to their attacking ways.
It is pretty safe to say Real have a rather dubious approach to transfer dealings and didn’t win any friends in their quest to sign Cristiano Ronaldo but for the good of European football we need a powerful Madrid side. Barca ripped La Liga apart last season and in truth Real were never anywhere near the title, the 6-2 El Classico victory for the Catalans perfectly demonstrated the gulf between the two sides.
I know people will point out Real won the league the previous season but in all fairness they were blown out of the water by Barca last time around and for the neutral Spanish football fan a bit more competition is needed in that league. With Valencia in dire financial stakes they’re not going to compete for the title any time soon and Atletico Madrid are still quite a way behind both Barca and Real.
In terms of competing in the Champions League only Barca seemed to trouble the English sides and for the good of that competition other clubs in Europe need to try and match the Premier League. Inter Milan may well step up a gear next season after Jose Mourinho is given another transfer window to build his team but Real’s capture of Kaka should start the ball rolling for their own improvements.
In his previous tenure as Real president Perez brought in Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham so I’m hopeful we’ll see an equally talented side assembled this time around. Now they have Kaka they might ease up in their pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo, though Perez has made some confusing statements about Ronaldo over the last few weeks, at points saying he wants ‘friendship’ with Manchester United and at other times saying he wants to sign him. Unfortunately it looks a fairly safe football bet that we have another summer of ‘Will he? Won’t he? Do we care anymore?’ regarding a prospective move to Madrid for the United man.
Historically Real have played attacking, flowing football but that was lacking last season. They’ve got Kaka so if they can bring in maybe two or three other quality players like Franck Ribery, David Silva, David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic etc they should provide a better spectacle next season. They’ve also apparently tabled a bid for Wigan’s Antonio Valencia, who should adapt to Spanish football fairly well and should be a good acquisition for Real.
After their historical and memorable campaign last season Barcelona will still be the bookies’ betting favourites to take the title next season but with Perez at the helm Real should make it a much closer contest next season. With the transfer window now open I expect Real will dominate the headlines throughout the summer, especially if they try and tempt the Premier League’s better players and next season it might actually be worth tuning in when Real are playing.
