Friday afternoon hijinks and shenanigans

By: Steve | May 30th, 2008

Hala Madrid! Check it out – two posts! IN ONE DAY! Aren’t you the lucky ones…

Ok, first things first, transfer news from the past week or so… everyone should know that the Garay deal includes the loan back to Racing for this year, as the Madrid hierarchy intend to integrate the centreback after the expiration of Cannavaro’s contract next year, so I won’t comment or link to anything about that.

Cassano transfer to Sampdoria confirmed
Il Talentino di Bari has officially left the building. Real have confirmed the permanent transfer of the zitty one to Sampdoria, and Goal.com report that Real have inserted a clause which will oblige the Italian team to pay back 7 million euros if the recalled Italy international is sold within a year, or 5 million euros if sold by the third year.

Calderon makes nice with Man U
President Calderon tries to pour cold water on the raging flames of the Cristiano Ronaldo rumours, by saying that you can’t buy what someone isn’t selling. Like that’s stopped the Spanish press before.

Xabi Alonso the replacement?
Another Goal.com story that has Madrid leading Juventus for the services of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, now that CRon (finally?) isn’t available. Alonso seems to have lost his starting place to Javier Mascherano, but I think Real see him more of a creator than a holding midfielder. He may not have Guti’s vision, but Alonso has the same knack of delivering passes right on the money. This would be a good pickup, in my opinion, though the price would have to be right, as Alonso’s form must’ve dipped a bit with all the inactivity.

Ok, in other news, Los Merengues released their preseason schedule. In addition to the Euro 2008 participants, several other players will be playing with their respective national teams for friendlies, World Cup qualifiers or the Olympics.

Real will start things off easy with some team bonding in Portugal in mid-July, and then they’re once again off to Irdning, Austria for the hardcore training. After that, they’re in London for the Emirates Cup with Arsenal, Juventus and Hamburg (hopefully I can get tickets!), and they also have matches in Colombia and Germany (a rematch against Eintracht Frankfurt).

Leading up to the start of the Liga season, Real will play Copa del Rey winners Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup and finally, they’ll play Sporting Club Portugal in the Santiago Bernabeu trophy memorial match.

Loads of stuff to look forward to this summer!