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Real Madrid sign Arjen Robben!!

July 17th, 2007 | By: Jan | 17 Comments »

With the Drenthe and Sneijder moves to Real lurking in rumor land, it now seems Dutch winger Arjen Robben will make the move to the capital of Spain! Despite Mourinho’s press conference of last week, declaring both Robben and new French signing Maloude (can’t remember the bloke’s name, sorry ) will be part of Chelsea’s line-up, it seems Real Madrid will finally present Robben to their fans.

Robben was promised to the fans many times already, but now it seems final. The Groningen born former PSV-star will sign for 5 seasons and join Ruud van Gol in what could become a new Dutch colony in Spain. This time in Madrid, though…

It’s as yet unclear if Drenthe and Sneijder will follow. Sneijder seems to have a preference for Valencia and Drenthe might just stay at Feyenoord, but according to several sources, it’s Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker who consults with Madrid and new coach Bernd Schuster, like JC does in Barcelona.

Beenhakker worked for Real Madrid of course, and has a longlasting relationship with Bernd Schuster. Although we can’t say that Don Leo taught the German master to play football, like JC did with his protegees Van Basten and Rijkaard :-).

Beenhakker knows Sneijder well, of course (Leo was technical director at Ajax when Wesley made his debut in Ajax 1) and most recently Leo worked with Royston Drenthe at Feyenoord. “The whole world is searching for good left backs. There are not many around. So, when a young player like Drenthe come to the fore, with his skills, passion and talent, it’s obvious that all clubs are following him.”

Apart from Robben and Van Nistelrooy, Jerzy Dudek also joins Real Madrid. And Dudek thinks of himself as half a Dutchman with his background at Feyenoord. “I spoke to Leo Beenhakker about my chance to go to Real. Leo said: there’s only so many big clubs in the world. Write their names down, and if you did that, you can then put Real Madrid’s name above all the names you have. That’s how big Real Madrid is… I decided to sign after he said that.”

Madrid coach Schuster, albeit German, is a huge fan of Dutch football. As a player, he once said in an interview he wished he was born more to the west. Schuster was never really liked in Germany because although he had more skills than the rest of the team together, he lacked the workmans’ ethic that most German teams are proud of… Schuster did an apprenticeship at Feyenoord in the end of the 90s when Leo Beenhakker coached the Dutch club and has since always followed what happened in the low lands…

Latest news: Real wants Sneijder as well… The Robben transfer is 99% sure, the Sneijder transfer less so. But Ajax just declared that Valencia has not put in a new bid for the little captain, so if Real is prepared to put the money on the table, Wes will undoubtedly move to Madrid.

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Comments

By Bart | July 17th, 2007 at 10:43 pm

So its final Robben to Madrid. Good, I don’t like Chelsea. Arjen doesn’t play all that well over there anyway. I hope he gets to play all of the games and that he doesn’t get any more injuries for at least a couple years . That would be quite something though, Robben, Sneijder, Drenthe, and van Gol all on one team. I would love to see that happen. This Schuster seems to know what he is doing. He is a genius for being a fan of Dutch football. Everyone knows Dutch football is just the best football there is to watch.

Posted from Canada

By lars | July 18th, 2007 at 4:38 am

i fink these are still rumours jan. i fink u are jumping the gun a bit haha. i dont reckon he will be going!

Posted from United Kingdom

By Jan | July 18th, 2007 at 5:00 am

Could well be Lars… :-). I am just reporting what I read… We’ll see… It’s so called cucumber time, we need those eyeballs here mate…

Posted from Australia

By goose | July 18th, 2007 at 5:23 am

Mourinho on Robben:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/6904044.stm

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | July 18th, 2007 at 8:33 am

and another one;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/6904044.stm

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By Bart | July 18th, 2007 at 9:49 am

You just gave us two links to the same article

Posted from Canada

By Caleb | July 18th, 2007 at 10:12 am

Man, I really hope so! I love Robben but Chelsea, who used to be one of my favourites, has become so boring and it’s hard for a player to play good, attractive football in those surroundings. Plus with the signing of Malouda, who says he is happy to play boring football if it means winning, well.. Robben should definitely go to Real Madrid!
On the side, from what I’ve seen Malouda doesn’t seem that good a player.. definitely not up to Robben standards. Opinions?

Posted from Japan

By ferenc | July 18th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Caleb: i think robben is overrated. he had a very good start and quickly became one of the most talented wingers of the world. he had one or two good games at ec04 and a quite good season with chelsea (04/05). but he had lots of injuries… he often forgets that football is a collective game,he’s diving,and seems a little bit arrogant. malouda is more useful for the team,maybe robben is more skilled but too individualist (useless dribbles,etc). don’t forget that malouda was really good at the wc06 and at lyon too. he’s one of the best players in one of the best national team of the world.

but: for robben real will be an ideal place. the spanish defenders are not as brutal as their italian and english colleagues. la ligua is more technical than the pl,players are more virtuous,the average level is higher,and the teams play more open football than in england. in spain a usual catenaccio style chelsea-pool is unimaginable. so,this move might be really good for robben but more importantly for the dutch football,for our beloved oranje too.

personally,as a barca-fan i don’t like to see many dutch players at real,but honestly at barca i don’t know if they would play at all. (beside messi,eto’o,ronaldinho and henry there wouldn’t be too many possibility for robben. at real yes.) still hope that drenthe will choose his favourite club:-) he’s not yet as good as abidal but in 1 or 2 years he might be better. he should stay one more year at feyenoord and after go to catalunya.

Posted from Hungary

By tjeerd | July 18th, 2007 at 9:54 pm

The canadian foxsport “soccer report” program says that Chelsea is now going after Drenthe.

By Jan | July 19th, 2007 at 12:30 am

Interesting Tjeerd. I read that Chelsea and Real Madrid have a gentleman’s agreement that they will not approach a player if the other club is talking to that player already. Now Madrid will not pursue signing Drenthe (too expensive + Feyenoord wants to have him for another season on loan) Chelsea stepped in. Apparently, they want to buy the youngster as a replacement for Robben and leave him in Rotterdam for another year…

Posted from Australia

By Caleb | July 19th, 2007 at 9:08 am

ferenc: Some good points there. Robben played much better in his first season and at the EC than he has recently, but then again, it’s was hard for a winger to play well in last season’s Chelsea team, and the injuries have been a major problem. All in all, he’s not been up to his best lately, but at his best I still think he’s better than Malouda. I wasn’t very impressed with Malouda at the World Cup and I still think he’s overrated. I never saw him playing in the league at Lyon though, so maybe I missed his best. Other’s opinions?

Posted from Japan

By tjeerd | July 19th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

Jan, Robben is a tremendous talent, but I never went for his theatrics.

By tjeerd | July 19th, 2007 at 6:22 pm

If he stays healthy he could be a real asset for Real Madrid.
I like the idea of Drenthe playing one more year at Feyenoord Jan.

By ferenc | July 20th, 2007 at 5:24 am

it is written in different newspapers that abramovich categorically said no to mijatovic and robben would stay at chelsea regardless the sum offered by real.

Posted from Hungary

By goose | July 20th, 2007 at 6:30 am

dont understand this; i read in all dutch newspapers that Robben has already a personal agreement with Real, whats Chelseas position?? i mean Robben has a contract for another year or 2.. its not like a player can choose the club whenever he wants, im a bit confused

dont know if Robben is overrated, it depends who you ask , remember that everytime he plays Chelsea play much better and stronger than without him (remember Man.U game this season?) he can always make a difference

my main concern when it comes to Robben is:
1. injury’s
2. diving; crying

if he can stay fit for a whole season it would also be more simple to get to his best game (and thats a great game btw)

Think Feyenoord is playing a dangerous game with Drenthe, this guy has only played one very good tournament so if i were Feyenoord (and short on money like always) i would take any offer over 10 mln euros and take a run…maybe he plays a bad season this year and no one will be interested anymore
saw Drenthe on tv yesterday and he said he was only focussing on Feyenoord and he expected to stay at Feyenoord this season

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By Bart | July 21st, 2007 at 10:24 am

I just read at vi.nl that chelsea blocked Robben’s transfer. They are going to keep him for another season and after that I think he will leave on a free transfer. vi. nl’s source was the telegraaf.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | July 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm

I read that too. Interesting… I agree with Goose on Drenthe by the way…

Posted from Australia

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