Hassan Chamas
The stakes in Spain are higher than ever in what promises to be the most exciting league season the country has ever seen. Never in the history of professional association football has so much money been loosely spent on transfers and teams rebuilt, let alone by a single club as they attempt to create their own fantasy team. With little transfer window time left the big picture is getting clearer and clearer for next season and an analysis of the best deals can begin.
1) Cristiano Ronaldo – (Manchester United to Real Madrid; €94M)
This summer’s transfer market was the moment Cristiano Ronaldo finally made his much fantasised move to Spain. After breaking the record books with a whopping £80M bid, Real finally found their star player, someone who could add that X-factor, long forgotten ever since the days of Robinho. The holder or the world’s most illustrated individual accolade lands in Madrid hoping to help Real power past Barcelona. With seven other players reaching a €150M+ value, the world could perhaps witness the team that could bring about Los Cules’ downfall.
2) Zlatan Ibrahimovic -(Internazionale to Barcelona; €45M+Samuel Eto’o)
The Blaugrana and the Nerazzurri did business in the highest publicised transfer swap of the summer: Barcelona parted with €45M and star striker Samuel Eto’o, in order to land Inter’s diamond in the rough, not that Ibrahimovic’s previous team-mates were considered charcoal. The total sum paid by Barcelona was €69M – if you value Eto’o at €20M and the €3M paid as compensation for Hleb’s decision not to join Inter on loan. Few out there can replace the Cameroonian, but without a doubt, ‘Ibracadabra’ fills tightly – and even better – his goal scoring boots.
3) Kaka – (AC Milan to Real Madrid; €65M)
Ever since the retirement of club legend Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid have struggled to find the player that could step on the same pedestal as the star Frenchman, let alone eclipse his formidable career: Antonio Cassano, Wesley Sneijder, Robinho, Rafael van der Vaart and co all tried to fill Zizou’s boots, trying to emulate Madrid’s legendary number 5. None managed to do so, and Kaka may be as good as it gets. The Selecao player is perhaps the best natural attacking midfielder in the world, and if there’s one person capable of leading the show at the Bernabeu, it’s him.
4) Xabi Alonso – (Liverpool to Real Madrid; €30-34M)
One of the longest transfer sagas of the summer, but one that whose ending was very much foreseen. Xabi Alonso landed in Madrid on August 5th as the last piece of Perez’s jigsaw puzzle. A couple of days later, he was passing trademark long balls to his team-mates against Toronto FC and DC United. The former Real Sociedad player will add the ball distribution the Bernabeu has missed since the days of David Beckham. If all goes well, he could be Perez’s most important summer signing.
Barcelona 09/10 Home IBRAHIMOVIC
5) Sergio Asenjo – (Real Valladolid to Atletico Madrid; €5M)
The hottest goalkeeping prospect to come out of Spain since the debut of a certain Iker Casillas, Sergio Asenjo is without the shadow of a doubt a future player for the Red Fury. He is an already an established presence at juvenile levels for Spain, winning the U-19 UEFA Championship in 2007. This year could be the year that the Valladolid youth-teamer makes his senior debut. At just €5M, he came cheap for los Rojiblancos.
6) Esteban Granero – (Getafe to Real Madrid; €4M)
The latest in the long line of “we’ll sell you for now, but buy you back later” business between Madrid and their city neighbours. Granero comes back home aspiring to be the surprise of 2009/10. His versatility may just turn out to be useful for Manuel Pellegrini, as “The Engineer” can slot him in anywhere in midfield. This, along with his long-range shooting, drew comparisons with Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta. Granero is still light-years behind the Albacete-born all terrain midfielder, but his start so far in pre-season has been impressive.
7) Maxwell Scherrer Cabelino Andrade – (Internazionale to Barcelona; €4.5M)
Cheap, fast and Brazilian, the ingredients that make a solid full-back. With the explosion of Azzurini starlet Davide Santon at Inter, Maxwell found playing time hard to find at the San Siro. With Barcelona out to find a better left-back than Eric Abidal, their reunion with 2004’s Dutch Footballer of The Year is a match made in heaven.
8) Karim Benzema – (Olympique Lyonnais to Real Madrid; €35M)
As if a squad that harboured Raul, Gonzalo Higuain, Arjen Robben, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ruud van Nistelrooy was short of attacking firepower, the addition of highly-rated French starlet Karim Benzema gives a new dimension to the word “arsenal”. However, with Huntelaar now gone and van Nistelrooy well into his thirties, new recruits were needed. After the failed attempt at David Villa, Florentino Perez sought after the next big thing on the market, signing the Kabyle man for €35M, possibly rising to €41M.
9) Miguel Angel Moya – (Mallorca to Valencia; €5M)
Los Che faithful will be crossing their fingers, hoping that Moya can eclipse the less satisfying displays of Cesar Sanchez, Timo Hildebrand and Renan. At 25, Moya is already one of Spain’s hottest goalkeeping prospects, and a move to a big club like Valencia from his boyhood club can’t be seen as anything but a step-up. With Renan now departed for Xerez, the former Spain youth-teamer has a whole season in order to prove his worth to national coach Vicente del Bosque and be part of the squad to South Africa next summer.
10) Keirisson de Souza Carneiro – (Palmeiras to Barcelona; €14M – Barcelona to Benfica; loan)
Brazil’s most talked about player could have been higher in the ranking were he still a Blaugrana player, but Pep Guardiola opted to send him on a year-long loan to Benfica in order to gain valuable European experience. For a person touted as the next best thing to come out of the Samba country since Alexander Pato, €14M for the Campeonato Brasileiro 2008’s top scorer is, as Silvio Berlusconi would say, “peanuts”.
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