Real Madrid arguably the greatest and most successful club in the World is no stranger to changes. Throughout the club's history there has been widespan changes in both on and off the pitch. The Club president, manager, players and coaching staff have all been axed and replaced at the change of the tides. This upcoming season is no different. The club ended last season by reassigning former club President Florentino Perez and he has already went on a massive spending spree that has brought in the extradordnary players in the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Albiol and Benzema for astounding transfer fees ranging from 35 million pounds to a record figure of 80 million pounds for Ronaldo.
These players and those existing players who are fortunate not to see themselves on the transfer market will be plying for Spanish and European glory under the watchful eyes of new appointed manager Pellegrini as well as advisor and former club player Zidane. The football world has been turned upside down as Real has made it clear that they are not through signing and have mentioned that Liverpool's Alonso, Valencia's David Silva and Munich's Ribiery are potential candidates to join the club. The football world awaits to see if this amazing array of talent will deliver total European domination next season.
Before we look at the astounding abundance of talent that has arrived to ply their trade on the pitch we must first look at the man whose job entail setting the right tactics and controlling egos. This is the manager Manuel Pellegrini, the Chilian who after spending time developing his managerial skills in clubs across South America came to Spain and transformed a fairly new football team Villareal into a regular slot in the Champions League moving them into the knock out stages and semi finals in the 05/06 season. He did this with limited resources and implementing strict discipline that saw top rated club player Riquelme stting on the sidelines because he refused to play by Pellegrini's rules. He has the second most successful win rate of a South America managing in Europe. Former Real Madrid manager Luxemburgo being the first.
Pellegrini now has the ardous task to keep Real boardroom and supporters happy with entertaining victories. Many managers in the past such as England's National Manager, Cappello have learned that one must entertain and win if one wants to remain in charge of the Los Blancos. With Ronaldo and Kaka around Pellegrini should be able to successfully undergo this taks since he is known for his preference for attacking free flowing football and has been dubbed the "Arsene Wenger" of La Liga. Pellegrini also brings the type of discipline needed to control players of high calibre. He has shown in the past that a players ability will not stop him from disciplining a player if he is not working for the team. This may however cause him problems because since Real and the players are much bigger he may recieve pressure from the board and supporters to play players because they want to be entertained.
Looking at the purchases Real Madrid has managed to pull off so far one cannot help but feel excited about this team. The club knows its influence on the world of football and has been successful in unsettling top players all across Europe due to the fact it is the dream of almost every player to don the white and black kit of Real. Last Summer after winning the Domestic and European title, attacking phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo made it clear that he wanted out of Manchester Utd, to pursue his and his mother's dream of him joining the Spanish giants. Ferguson and Manchester Utd refused and held on to him for another season hoping that continued success and attention would change his mind. Ronaldo however after losing the Champions League Final to Barcalona, decided his career in England was over and he would plan his revenge against Barca in the El Classico.
Ronaldo will bring with him his awesome ability to attack. Real will benefit from his fluent ability to move past defenders and take shots on goal. Also his aerial and free kicking capabilities. It should be interesting to see how he adapts to the Spanish game, he should be more free since attacking players are given more time on the ball than in Spain. Kaka will be a key figure in this new Real team, he may ply his trade as a playmaking central midfielder or play in a more attacking position perhaps twinning Ronaldo on the wing. His ability to create magic on the pitch will have the Real home crowd in exstacy next season.
Kaka like Ronaldo is a top player and has had the title of the World's Best awarded to him. It was once thought that Kaka would remain at another European giant AC Milan until last season's January window came and the new wealth of Manchester City dissolved the trust that the club and their marquee player had. An astounding transfer bid was accepted for financial purposes and Kaka was almost forced to leave his beloved Milan to play for a team that had no chances of playing in the Champions League in the upcoming season. In the end Kaka remained at Milan but the damage was done, and with his AC Milan's manager Ancelotti leaving to take up a Job at Chelsea, Kaka jumped at the opportunity to join the Los Galacticos and became their second signing for the summer.
With all this extra firepower listed aboved Real needed to fill a defensive void. The end of the season saw the departure of central defender Cannavaro who decided to return to his former club Juve. Real then decided to turn their eyes on Spanish defender Raul Albiol from Valencia. Real knew that Valencia is experiencing finacial difficulties and would be open to the transfer. Albiol is a regular player in Spain's national team and can be used either as a centre back or a defensive midfielder.
The latest piece of Real's puzzle is striker, Karim Benzema. The soon to be former Lyon man has been at sought after from top clubs such as Arsenal, Barcalona and Manchester Utd. He chose to remain at Lyon until Real became interested in acquiring his talents. He recently stated that it was always his dream to play for Real and when the opportunity came to play with world players Kaka and Ronaldo he could not say no to the offer. Benzema will be expected to take full advantage of the midfield talents of Ronaldo and Kaka, latching on to passes, crosses and doing what he does best, scoring beautiful goals.
Just as a number of players are set to realize their dream come true to play for the Los Blancos, others are starting to realize their own is coming to an end. This weekend Perez released a statement announcing that at least ten players will have to make way for the new entries. THe most likey candidates to leave will be the large array of Dutch players that have made their way to Real under former manager Schuster. Players like Drenthe, Van De Vaart, Robben, Nistelrooy, Huntelaar could all see themselves at a new club. The new arrivals will most likely be partnered with Spanish players like Ramos, Raul, Torres and others such as Diarra, Pepe, Marcelo and Higuain. I am definitely excited to see how this experiment will turn out, will it be a successful haul of trophies unlike the last superstar line up of Zindane, Figo, Beckham and the other Ronaldo, is yet to be seen.
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