Which Players Stay, Which Players Go Part 1

By: Corey | May 26th, 2009

I Found The Solution To All Of Our Problems

Since its the end of the season, I figured it was time for this kind of post. The one where we look at the squad for next year and determine who should stay and who should go. Also, I will be adding players from the Castilla team that should be promoted and given a shot to round out the numbers, and discussing the positions where we may need to dip in to the transfer market with possible targets. Below is a list of current players in the squad. Those in bold are who I expect to stay next season, while those not in bold are probably on their way out. No discussion of new signings, just taking inventory here. I am going to split this up into parts based on the keepers and defense, midfield and forwards. So here is part one with the keepers and defense:

Goalkeepers:

1 Iker Casillas
13 Jordi Codina
25 Jerzy Dudek
30 Antonio Adán
29 Felipe Ramos

Idealism is the key to the goal keeping situation at Real Madrid. Because lets face it, barring injury, no one will take the #1 jersey from Iker Casillas until he is at least 36, if not older. Its a difficult situation from the Castilla keepers because they are pretty good, but they have the best in the world in head of them. Jordi Codina found that out, and I fully expect him to go to Xerez or any one of the promoted teams this summer. It seems like a good fit, and he is a La Liga quality keeper, so why not move on to further your career. He should not be to banged up about never breaking into the starting role, as Casillas is, like him, a cantera player, so that softens the blow. Best of wishes to Codina!

Dudek is worthless, I hated this guy since the day we signed him. I knew he would never play, but it was also because it was such an obvious sign that the management did not trust Castilla players to backup Casillas, which is stupid. I could see one of Felipe Ramos or Antonio Adan going out on loan IF Castilla is not promoted to the Segunda, while the other will probably be Casillas backup. This means that the Castilla keeper spot will be open next year if one of Ramos or Adan is loaned and the other promoted to the first team.

This is because Real Madrid C obviously has two very talented keepers. Tomas and Aitor are both very good keepers, with both winning caps and junior levels for Spain. So one of them will have to make the move up next year. Also, I suppose that Real will bring in a goalkeeper in the off season if one of Adan or Felipe Ramos is loaned or stays with the Castilla team.

Center Backs:

D5 Fabio Cannavaro
D3 Pepe
D21 Christoph Metzelder
D26 Mateos
## Ezequial Garay
## Christoph Schorch
## Agus Fernandez
## Gary

So let me first say that while Fabio Cannvaro is an excellent player, he is simply to old to play with Real for another season. He has been a stalwart for our club over the past three seasons, but I think it is time for him to go back to Italy. We have Garay coming in and I suppose that Real could be on the look out for another central defender. Since Cannavaro already signed for Juve, it seems that moving him out wont be to much of a problem. He has worked wonders in calming Pepe down (barring the Getafe game), so his influence will hopefully be long lasting in a defensive stalwart in Pepe.

Pepe is gonna recover from the Getafe game incident, and when he does he will definitely have a new partner. He will also most likely be the one to take Garay under his wing even though they are only a few years apart. I do not know who Real is planning on signing this summer as a central defender, but this is one of the rare occurrences where we really have no grounds for speculation because the president is not elected yet. I would advocate a central defensive signing, but I would also say that with Pepe, Garay and a signing that the fourth center back should not be Sergio Ramos. It should be a youth team player, i.e. Gary or Schorch. That is if Metzelder is not retained. If he is, then there will be no room for that youth team player.

If a player like Gary is finally signed to a permanent deal, then he could be promoted to the first team, but since he is on loan with Castilla, he cannot play for Real. I did not know that until I looked it up, which makes sense as to why he never was played by Schuster last year. But this year he is fully owned by Real, so I expect him to move up or leave for good. Mateos will be sold, as he does not have La Liga quality. Schorch is sort of an unknown quantity. I have personally never seen him play, as Castilla games are pretty hard to catch, but he has high ratings. I do not know what his situation is for next year. He shaved his head recently though, so there is some news.

Agus did not do well on his loan last year to Celta, and although he has been ever present for Castilla this term, he will be released/sold in the summer because of his age. He is approaching 23, so he needs to start playing somewhere else. I cant say he was of the required quality Real needed, but I wish him luck in the future. Castilla is gonna have a tumultuous offseason with center backs, although the arrival of Matteo Mussachio will help things a bit. He is a highly rated youngster fro River Plate that Real signed this past year. Expect big things from him, unlike Juan Forlin of Boca Juniors, who has had little impact this season.

Pepe and Garay would be a nice partnership, but I believe Metzelder will be retained for another year. If they were to sell Metzelder, we would have Pepe and Garay, with Sergio Ramos and maybe Heinze as coverage. That to me is not sufficient. Metzelder stays, although I would rather he not see to much playing time. His performances at the end of the season have either been really good, or as in El Clasico, pretty average against an opponent with a lot of pace. A good backup, but he himself has admitted that leaving might make sense for his career, although he enjoys playing for Real. A youth team player would be nice, but given that Gary and Schorch really have no experience, and have not made moves towards the first team this season, I have a hard time believing a coach and/or the management will be so trusting of either of them.

Wing Backs:

D4 Sergio Ramos
D2 Míchel Salgado
D22 Miguel Torres Gómez
D27 Javier Velayos
D16 Gabriel Heinze
26 Chema Anton
12 Marcelo

Its pretty obvious that Gabi Heinze must go as far away from Madrid as possible. I dont think any sane Real fan likes this guys playing style, and his horror defending has been costly the past two seasons. There is interest (not sure if its genuine) in him from the EPL, so if an offer comes in, take it! Miguel Torres to me is the perfect left back for us. He is good at just about everything, although not outstanding in anything at the same time. He brings solidity and consistency to the left back position, something we really need given Sergio Ramos’s up and down season, and the always chaotic central defensive pairing.

I Miguel Torres being the starting left back and Marcelo being his back, although Marcelo also can be used on the wing. Marcelo is still a left back in my eyes, he simply needs to mature and become more responsible in his positioning and the timing of his runs. A good backup for sure, either at left back or on the wing. Likewise Drenthe, who is also a left back still in my eyes. But he will probably be gone, so I dont count on him. Its nice to have utility players like that, as if Torres himself is not one already. Which leads me to the right back spot.

Torres is also a great backup at the right back spot. So if he is my starter at left back and my backup at right back, we are stretched a tad thin here arent we? The solution is simple. Use youth team players as cover! There is absolutely no need to buy Maicon or Maxwell from Inter Milan, or Philip Lahm from Bayern etc etc etc. Good players they are, but we need to stop looking for quick solutions and start developing long term plans. Which is why I say we go with Ramos and Torres as starters, Marcelo backing up Torres, Torres backing up Ramos, and two youth team players being used in emergencies at either spot. Javier Velayos as a right back I believe is first team ready. He made the bench against Vilarreal, so Juande sees something in him that should merit a workout in the pre-season with the first team. I would not sign a right back given our plethora of options there.

Daniel Opare is not, and I know alot of fans have been clamoring for his inclusion, but I dont think he is ready yet. He has not had a full campaign under his belt with Castilla, so give him more time. Velayos on the other hand is in his second season as the starting right back for Castilla, and has been one of the best players of the side. Give him a chance this season. At left back, Chema Anton lost his place in the Castilla team to Marcos Alonso and looks almost certain to be released this summer. I dont see him making it to the first team now, his form has dropped off considerable from reports. He played in 25 games this year, but something fishy must be going on if he was to loose his place to a Juvenil A player. He is only 20, so he has time, but I fear the worst for his Real career.

Michel Salgado of course needs to move on as well. He has been a great servant to the club, and while we know he wanted to retire with Real, he probably should go play in Saudi Arabia for a year or two before retiring. He will have a testimonial match for sure, and I can see him getting involved in football administration some day.

The key here is to make it clear to Torres he will be the starter for Real at left back. If he knows that going in to the season, expect big things from him.