Weekly Grapevine 11/17

By: Corey | November 17th, 2009

I WANT TO PLAY!

- Ruud wants to return to the starting role with Real Madrid soon, and he also wants to play for Holland in the World Cup this summer. He has not formally discussed his plans with Holland coach Dick Van Marwijk yet, but he is planning on it. Ruu told this and more to Marca recently, when he was quizzed on his plans for next year. He also said that if he was to leave the club in January, probably for a small fee, it would have to be to a team that would allow him to play regularly so that he could go to the World Cup.

On one hand I understand he wants to play for Real and Holland at the WC, but on the other hand he retired from the national team and did not help them progress through the qualifying stages, so is that fair to some of the players that did? And does that mean he should seek a move away from Real, a club where he is idolized by the fans for his goal scoring prowess? We know the club will not resign him so he will leave in the summer regardless, but I would like to have 6 more months to see Ruud in action a few more times.

- Cristiano Ronaldo’s Dutch doctor was flown down to Madrid today to check on the winger’s ankle, and he gave him the all clear to continue training. Ronaldo should thus be fit for selection against Santander this week, with Portugal deciding not to enforce a FIFA rule that would permit his participation so close to an international friendly date that he missed with injury. Whether he starts or not remains to be seen, but the good news is Ronaldo will be available for El Clasico. Keep your fingers crossed.

- In the Madrid derbi, Manuel Pellegrini was hit in the head with a stone on the sidelines of the match. The Competition Committee has decided to fine Atletico a paltry 150 euros for the incident of crowd trouble. The Competition Committee is the same group of nimrods who threw tiny fines at all of the teams with racist chants in their grounds. This is a travesty and just goes to show how ass backwards the LFP really is. We cant even get the time of the match a week in advance still for crying out loud!

- We have been linked with Manuel Vargas of Fiorentina yet again. Im not sure if anyone watches Fiorentina regularly, but Vargas plays as a winger, not a left back. When he did plays as a left back he was nothing short of awful. Why replace two crappy attacking left backs who are better in midfield with the same type of play? GRRRR!!!!!

- Chelsea has had its transfer bid lifted after the Kakuta incident (the youngster has alot of skill but he will never make it at a high level, he is to immature) and now they are looking in to signing a few players in the winter market. Typically many of the team still participating in the Champions League stay out of the winter market as most of the top talent is cup tied. Yet the Daily Star seems to think Chelsea will spend a small fortune on cup tied Sergio Ramos as a partner for John Terry. This is the epitome of bullshit transfer rumors….

- Supposedly Manuel Pellegrini’s job is on the line and El Clasico is his yard stick. Sticking with the Chelsea theme, if Pellegrini was to loose that game(its very difficult for a coach to lose a match, its usually the players that do that), then Phil Scolari would be the obvious replacement according to several news agencies. We discussed this very problem on the podcast this past week, in that it makes no sense to come up with these rumors, yet the media still does constantly. Ugh.

- Another transfer market, another Real Madrid clear out. Except this time it makes some sense.

- This rumor I am actually happy with. Marcel Schafer is a left back for German champions Wolfsburg and has also been involved in the German national team lately. It seems likely he will travel to the World Cup with the team either as Philip Lahm’s backup or as a starter with Lahm switching to the right. Real has been linked with the player in the winter market, in a move that is deemed “probable”. I like Schafer, I think he is an excellent left back and this move makes sense to me. But he is cup tied, and he is unlikely to want to put his place in the World Cup in danger by moving clubs. So no probable winter switch, but Real would do well to tie him up before the World Cup this summer, as he as well as Filipe Kasmirski are my two favorite left backs right now. Roberto Canella and Michel Bastos would be third and fourth right now, although Bastos is being played in midfield at Lyon, so he might fall under the Vargas category…

- And finally, a brief interview with Rafeal Van der Vaart, who several fans have taken to once again after showing more then enough fight on the field despite never really producing much of anything in his substitute appearances. He has rejected a move to Hamburg in the winter in order to stay with Real for the remainder of the year.

“I am going to stay, I will not have a transfer,” he told Bild.

“It was not like it should have been in the past but now I am getting to games and believe I will be having a great time at Real Madrid.

“This is nothing against Hamburg, the Hamburg fans or the club. They are still very much part of my heart.

“This is a decision in favour of Madrid and not against Hamburg.”

I appreciate that Rafeal, but in your case, it might be best to move on because Pellegrini is only using you because Guti is in the dog house right now. We have some talented youngsters in the Castilla team in C team that we may want to take a look at and your in there way. So if you want to go to the World Cup just like Ruud does, you may want to consider a move away in the winter.

Its been awhile since I did one of these, but its always nice to do a quick round up of the sludge that the various press outlets churn out every day about transfers.

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Real Madrid Wants Meee???? I Havent A Clue!