Adios Huntelaar and Castilla and C Start Training

By: Corey | July 22nd, 2009

A new day, a new story to follow. Although it may not have been news to anyone, Klaas Jan Huntelaar has finally completed his move to Stuttgart after some posturing by his agent to field offers from England that never really turned up. So he moves to Stuttgart for 18 million euros with a further 2 million based on incentives. He will be replacing Mario Gomez, who moved to Bayern Munich for 30 million early on in the summer. Good business by Stuttgart, who get a better player for a clip under 10 million euros less then Gomez was valued at. Huntelaar is the third player to leave Real this summer, although he will not be the last, with many people expecting Ruud Van Nistelrooy to move this summer, as well as Dani Parejo, who may be loaned to Getafe to soften the blow of loosing Esteban Granero. Michel, trainer of Getafe, knows the player well, and since he is a Real legend, should have the run over any of the teams unneeded youngsters.

With the sale of Huntelaar, Real has solved the over crowding of the forward line, but I have some doubts about the sale. In a purely financial sense, this was bad business. 18 million euros is a good fee for Huntelaar, but we paid Ajax 20 million for him in January, with performance incentives raising the price as high as 27 million. The performance incentives are rarely disclosed, so I do not know what they may be, but I have a feeling because we sold Hunelaar we did not have to pay a majority of them besides qualifying for the Champions League. With that being said, Huntelaar had a sell on clause, something that a club like Real Madrid should never agree to, but it was by the previous administration so we had to pay that, which was rumored at 7 million euros. Meaning we sold Huntelaar for 11 million euros when subtracting the sell on clause, and the performance incentives should have totaled at the least 2-3 million, meaning we did not recoup our transfer outlay at all. On the initial investment of 20 million, plus 3 million (estimated) for performance minus the 11 million we can reasonably expect from Stuttgart, we are still out 12 million euros. We could expect the further 2 million from Stuttgart, but they have been inconsistent in their league finishes so who knows.

Huntelaar called 8 goals in 20 games for Real, a good return considering the defensive style we played and the lack of service he often did not get. Consider he did not score his first goal until February 15th, his sixth appearance for the team. After that he went on a bit of a tear, but by the end of April the goals dried up for him again as Higuain and Raul became the established partnership. Huntelaar really did not spend enough time to be a fan favorite per say, but I will always remember how effective he was in pouncing on half chances. His finishing is second to none, but he cannot create on his own, which sometimes frustrated the fans. I commend him for his service and wish him luck in Stuttgart, where he should do pretty well as the team is built around a target man.
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Today Castilla and Real Madrid C began their preseason preparations at Valdebabas with aplomb at both teams trained under the Madrid sun. Castilla and Real C have new coaches that will hopefully continue the good development of the youth prospects after great showings in even young categories this past season. Real Madrid C’s training party consisted of 25 players:

Víctor Merchán, Pedro Aldea, Andy, Salinas, Carlos Martín, Denis, Edgar, Javi Rodríguez, Santi Cezón, Antonio Martínez, Miguel Ángel, Pedro Marques, Juan Carlos, García Ortega, Juanma, Antonio Moreno, Roberto Jiménez, Mario Sáiz, Aleix (Campeón del Mundial de Clubes el pasado año con el Juvenil A) y a Jesús Berrocal (cedido la pasada temporada al Racing de Santander). Carnero acudió a los servicios médicos del Club.

Some notable names include Victor Merchan, Mario Saiz ‘Samu’, Javi Rodriguez, Denis, Carlos Martin and Jesus Berrocal. I wish them luck in their coming season and hopefully some of them can move up to the Castilla team through out the year!

As for Castilla, they opened training camp with 25 players. New players to the squad include
Juanan, Juanfran, Cristian y Ruben Ramos. Ruben Ramos and Juanfran were reported here on Real Offside, but Juanan and Cristian are new to me. Cristian is a forward\winger who comes from Alicante, presumably to replace Szalai who should be on his way out before the transfer period ends, while Ruben Ramos replaces Alberto Bueno. Juanfran is the other striker to reinforce the forward line, who comes from Getafe B. He made his Liga debut a year ago under Laudrup, and this previous season he played with Vilarreal B, who got promoted to the Segunda this year. Click the link to read up more on them.

Returning players include Opare, Mateos, Mosquera, Gorka, Acuña, Antón, Gary, Vázquez, Modrego, Zamora, Javi H. y Szalai which brings the total up to 16 players. Real Madrid C players to be called up to the Castilla consist of Garrido, Juan Carlos, Samuel, Cruz, Moyano y los cancerberos Aitor Arasa y Tito. Felipe Ramos, Fran Rico and Luis Hernandez all trained away from the group, all recovering from injuries. Interesting to note that Adan, Tebar, Velayos, Mejias and Palanca are not being considered as part of the Castilla team until Pellegrini has made decisions on them during the first team preseason. Either Adan or Mejias will with be the first team for sure, although they may not have an actual squad number. The others are still up in the air. Marcos Alonso and Nacho are both on international duty with the u-19 squad but will rejoin the team when the tournament is over.

New coach Alejandro Melendez split the squad in to two with red pinies lineup up as:

Aitor Arasa; Garrido, Antón, Gary and Juanan in defense; Vázquez, Modrego, Juanfran, Zamora and Javi H. in center of the field; Samu and Szalai.

For some reason the red pinnies had 12 players? And the no pinnies side was:

Tito; Opare, Moyano y Mateos in defense; Mosquera, Cruz, Juan Carlos, Gorka y Cristian in the midfield; Acuña y Rubén Ramos.

Ruben Ramos would score the only goal of the quick game, which was more for getting the players acclimated with playing once again. Check out Castilla’s main site here for some videos of the lads training and having a chance to meet Jorge Valdano.

The Four New Castilla Players

Alejandro Menendez Talks To His Players

On a side note, Sergio Sanchez, ex-Castilla player and Espanyol defender is in the closing stages of a move to Sevilla, after rejecting a move to Valencia due to the transfer fee.