

Raul Albiol Official….Is He What We Needed?
By: Corey | June 25th, 2009Raul Albiol has become the third player brought in under Florentino Perez as a clear indication that he will not be repeating the same mistakes of signing only attacking players. But then again, people do not know what happened when Perez was last chief, tending to focus on the sale of Makelele and the hurried retirement of Fernando Hierro. Jorge Valdano intimated to the press the other day that David Villa’s situation is very similar to how Valencia handled the Roberto Ayala negotiations right around the time of Makelele and Hierro leaving, deciding to pull out when the fee and contract were agreed. Luckily this has not happened with Albiol.
The fee is 15 million euros, and he will provide competition for Christoph Metzelder and Ezey G for a center back position. This also puts an end to the rumors of Sergio Ramos being used as a center back in the upcoming season. Although judging by his crap performance against the United States, that might not be a bad idea….Albiol comes to Real after 4 seasons with Valencia where he was affectionately known as Albi-own goal, not a nick name Real fans would like him to continue with. Bad luck or poor interception skills no one is positive, but lets hope that little flaw in his game is removed. As I read Cesar of the Valencia Offside talk about Albiol, he reminded me of why I never talk the player up much in the past. Sure he is a promising player, but he still needs work if he is to become a sturdy center back.
So my question to the readers is: Is Albiol going to be good enough to replace someone like Cannavaro and not leave an already positionally shaky Pepe horribly exposed when he himself goes on a wander around the pitch?
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I disagree with you gents about the albiol thing I think he would be very useful regardless of those occasional own goals he scored , no center back it doesn’t matter how good he is will change anything as long as we defend as badly as we did at the beginning of last season or the end of it I know you guys remember that this crappy defense was the same one that was elected best in la liga last season and the same defense that didn’t concede in a lot of games under juande ramos , why? Because we were defending and attacking as a team that’s what pellegrini gotta work on
Anyways looks like you’re about to get your wish , heard we’re going for carvalhoPosted from
United States

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Will Torres ever start? Is this what Madrid is trying to do? Buy spanish players and try to pass them off as Canteranos?
Posted from
United States

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you missed out on two things,andres. at the start it was sans lass. in the end,it was sin pepe.
carvalho is way too old. mexes would be a far better signing IMHO.or bruno alves.
Posted from
India

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realrock that’s a good point you made there still though it will come down to how organized the team is defensively
Carvalho is old ( 33 if I’m not mistaken) he’s got 2 good years left in him and his still a great defender his coming might help the young’ins like albiol , ramos and even pepe mature a bit he will kinda be like the new cannavaro having said that though bruno alves is good too but he too is very error prone and will be expensive porto sucks you dry everytime you try to buy a player from them
Mexes also is error prone on top of that he is hot headed think he got like 4 red cards this past seasonJames pellegrini said he favors fullbacks with a lot of offensive prowess and torres as much as we like brings nothing offensively hell be a starter one day though just don’t think its right now
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United States

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Good signing – if for no other reason than depth at the CB spot. Now just give me a decent LB for heaven’s sake!!! And according to the Barca fans, Felipe is going to sign with FCB on Monday. Hope they’re wrong.
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United States

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looks like drenthe is gone ppl, off to la viola. im guessing he won’t be missed here. in other news, galliani said that milan has the first option on huntelaar, which might be exercised should they fail to sign dzeko. sound like a win-win-win situation to me
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Belgium

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also i dont see why everyone is so keen on felipe, but completely ignores andre santos. been observing him during the confed cup, seems like a marcelo that is able to defend.
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Belgium

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Irony in South Africa: A real madrid player (sergio ramos) loses the match for his country, while the next day a barca player (alves) wins it for his country.
Posted from
Germany

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Irony in south Africa: 3 barca players lose to the US (pique, puyol, xavi), while the next day a madrid player wins with his team to go to the final (kaka)
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United States

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But Cesar, Casillas and Sergio Ramos are on Spain. With Casillas looking suspect for the 1st goal and Sergio Ramos looking foolish for the 2nd. And I hate Madrid, Sergio Ramos didn’t lose it for Spain. There’s no irony in either of the situations.
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United States

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That has to be one of the dumbest comments I have ever seen on not just this site, but the entirety of the Offside. My mind still can not come to grasp how a human being who has a brain in his head can think that such a statement is suppose to hurt or annoy a Real Madrid fan, never mind how untrue and completely lacking in common sense the statement is.
Congratulations I Hate Madrid, you have made the most unintelligent comment ever on this site. And for that, you are a huge dumbass.
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United States

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I know Jnice, I was just making a point on how stupid the previous comment was…
Casillas got caught going the other way, but how is it that it was Capdevila covering Altidore, and not the mighty central defenders from Barcelona???
Posted from
United States

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I think Albiol is a good signing, have to wait and see what happens with garay…
And ramos, stop bitching, man up and assume you screwed up in the second goal, your attitude is just pathetic….
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United States

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Cesar, Pique and Puyol were obviously dragged out of position, but Capdevilla should have never been tossed like that. No need to call them “mighty”, I didn’t make any dumb statements about your players, I was just saying.
Posted from
United States

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Jnice, I know you didn’t make any dumb statements, I apologize if you thought I was mocking you in anyway…, I was just keeping up with I Hate Madrid’s twisted logic…
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United States

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It’s all good Cesar. No problems.
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United States

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Hey guys, one thing few of us have talked about and is getting me really worried is the quarry being headed by Ramon Martinez. It seems he’s letting go all the youth coaches in bulk. Lopetegui’s gone, the U-18 winning team’s coach is gone, and lots more are being removed too. From what i remember, the last time Ramon Martinez was here, he made a HUGE mess of the quarry. He’s not done anything of note since either, with Celta. I remember they used to have a pretty good youth system which played a major role in getting them to the UEFA Cup. Havent heard of anyone from there in the last few years. Moreover with such lack of continuity, the youth team players might also be considering their futures. What does everyone think?
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United States

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Well, I think that just shows Florentino’s lack of appreciation for la cantera, and how all the electoral talk about how he was going to boost it was all crap…
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United States

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It seems that RM and Fiorentina have agreed a loan deal for Drenthe. Smart move by RM.
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United States

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Corey, you’ve got it all wrong. I don’t come on here to piss anyone off.
Posted from
Islamic Republic Of Iran

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The Drenthe loan is great. He has natural talent, but his decision making needs improvement. Fiorentina, being Italian, should help him positionally if he decides to persure a LB career. He could fit well into the Pelligrini line-up as a left back. He is quick and attacks well and if he can improve his positioning for defence we could use him in the future, I still believe he has unfulfilled potential. I don’t see any future as a left winger at Madrid.
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United States

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Not excited about Albiol. Never impressed me during the times I’ve seen him. He appears to be shaky on the ball, and doesn’t read attacking passes as well as many of the top defenders do these days. Only time will tell, but I’m still pinning my hopes on Garay and a new left back.
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United States

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Real need a left back really badly and a good thought is Andre Santos. He played amazing during the confed. cup, and hes not that old of a player they should really think of signning him. Albiol is a good player he could play wing and center back. I just hope he shows his tallent at Real.
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United States

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real madrids defence sucks so all of you be happy because of albiol
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United States

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you know what realn madrid fans no matter who you get you will always have messi you wont
Posted from
United States

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