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Real Madrid’s fire-sale of Dutch players

May 5th, 2009 | By: Jan | 25 Comments »

He could be seen as the one and only successor to the Duke of Alva. Perez is the big fave to become Madrid’s new chair man and he’ll immediately take up arms against the Dutch.

One of his people leaked his soundbites to the media: “The problem with the Dutch at Real is, that there’s too many. And next season, we may well have none left!”.

In the last two seasons, there was a warm welcome for the Oranje internationals. The ever-scoring Ruud van Nistelrooy had paved the way. He was the cheapest signing: 10 million euros. The other five cost 115 million euros, from 13 million for Drenthe to 36 million for Robben.

None of our countrymen is sure about his future in Bernabeu. With small differences among them, newspapers AS and Marca almost agree on their transfer sums. Added together, Real hopes to get 100 million for the lot!

Four players are advertised with a vengeance: Robben for 25 million, Sneijder for 20, Van der Vaart for 13 and Drenthe will cost you 10 million euros. The latter can also be rented for a season.

The departure of Van Gol and The Hunter is least certain. That all depends on the big name strikers (!) that Perez and Jorge Valdano want to sign.

Perez was the creator of the Galactico’s and he loves big names. Today, the names of C Ronaldo, Kaka and David Villa are whispered in the dungeons of the Bernabeu stadium.

Van Nistelrooy has the most sympathy in Madrid and he might be allowed to stay as pinchhitter. He scored 63 goals in 102 games and was Real’s top goalmachine until he got heavily injured this season.

That injury and his age (33 years old this summer) are the main reasons for the club to doubt him. Cashing in on him wouldn’t be a bad plan. But on the other hand, his signing fee has been written off already and the striker is popular amongst the fans and the players.

According to the newspapers, only eight players are allowed to stay: Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Raul, Higuain, Diarra, Pepe, Marcelo and Torres. Cannavaro will move back to Juve, Juande Ramos will go back to coaching school while the deals of Faubert and goalie Dudek end this summer.

The Dutch players may still have a contract, but Perez simply doesn’t like to have too many players of one nationality. He also complaints about their return on investment. None of the Dutchies has grown into a key-player or star. The latter is necessary in terms of merchandising ( see: Beckham, Figo, Zidane).

Robben did seem to be the best candidate for it, but injuries stopped his progression. In his first season, he only played 34% of all minutes, in his second season he increased his performance to 54%. Apart from that, Raul and Higuain don’t like Robben’s selfish playing style.

Sneijder started very well last season and became popular, partly thanks to his goal scoring streak. This season however, personal issues and injuries made him a passer-by and he only scored twice.

Van der Vaart changed from glamour boy into wallflower. He scored four times in four games but Juande Ramos didn’t even seem to acknowledge the fact that the former Ajax star was part of his group. Last season, Vaart scored 21 goals for Hamburger SV.

Drenthe was the laughing stock of the fans, acquired anxiety and hasn’t played a quarter of the games.

Huntelaar came as the stand-in for Ruud, but lost the battle against Higuain. He did score eight times already, but hasn’t scored in the last seven matches.

Tags: Drenthe, Group C, Huntelaar, Nistelrooy, Ramos, Raul, Real Madrid, Robben, Sneijder

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Comments

By Jan | May 5th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

My 2cents:

Drenthe: back to Feyenoord
Huntelaar: Arsenal
Van der Vaart: Chelsea
Sneijder: Valencia or Man City
Robben: ManU if C Ronaldo leaves? Barcelona?
Van Nistelrooy: PSV

By Michel-Olivier | May 5th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

“Perez simply doesn’t like to have too many players of one nationality.”
remember the brazilians(robinho, roberto carlos, ronaldo, cicinho, and baptista)

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | May 5th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Drenthe: ajax
Huntelaar: stay
Van der Vaart: juventus
Sneijder: stay
Robben: stay
Van Nistelrooy: PSV

Posted from United States

By Tiju | May 5th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

My cents
Drenthe-AZ Alkmaar(van gaal can groom him)
Huntlaar-Arsenal (agree with you Jan)
Vander vaart-Mancity
Roban-Back to chelsea
Nestel Rooy-PSV
Znijder- cannt say now???????

Posted from India

By Lerkot | May 5th, 2009 at 11:59 pm

I really doubt they are going to sell all of them. It’s simply not realistic.

Drenthe: Could go on loan anywhere. Probably not to Feyenoord though.
Huntelaar: Stays
Van der Vaart: Leaves. Bayern?
Sneijder: Might stay, might go to… Milan.
Robben: Stays
Van Nistelrooy: Stays

By Jan | May 6th, 2009 at 12:33 am

Sneijder to Milan… I like that. Bayern and Vaart seems a good call too…

By Tiju | May 6th, 2009 at 1:35 am

Barca will never sign roban he is too far away fro their style of play(Team play)
Vaart to bayren may be good one.

Posted from India

By Tiju | May 6th, 2009 at 2:37 am

Arsenal lacks a good leader,A good inspirational diffender,and some mental consistancy but they have too much talent in their pockt. see vanpersie,fabergas,edurado,adbayoor,arshavin,rosiscky etc,but this time they were slighlty unlucky also coz they missed edurado,arshavin and rosiscky.
Arsenal need a commanding diffender in the back.

Posted from India

By finnster01 | May 6th, 2009 at 3:03 am

@Tiju: they (Arsenal) sure do need a solid leader in the back. They are rumoured to put a big bid in the summer for Fulham’s (and the Norway team captain) Brede Hangeland. He would be a great buy for Arsenal and a good fit. He has been one of top 4 CB’s in the Prem this year, along with Vidic, Ferdinand and John Terry. Fulham has the 4th best defense in the league and Hangeland has a lot to do with that.

By Alex | May 6th, 2009 at 3:57 am

I agree with Perez that there are too many, but selling all of them is complete madness. Robben is one of the best wingers in the world. Sneijder still has it, only had a dip for a period.

If they want to break with the past. Sell Raul. Let him go. He’s getting worse and worse every season. Hardly adds anything at all. Raul, Guti, Cannavaro, Heinze, Metzelder, Dudek, Faubert, Drenthe, V.d.Vaart should all leave, even if it’s just to get some playing time. V.Nistelrooij shouldn’t be left on the bench. Let him end his career in a glamourous way.

L.Diarra, Pepe, S.Ramos, Casillas, Gago, Higuain, Huntelaar, Robben, Sneijder, M.Torres and Marcelo should really stay.
Real need one coach for the next 4 years. Who aquires himself strategic buys. Not Perez’ or that other guys impulse buys. They need at least one good CB, and one real LB/CB. A new Midfielder. A holding midfielder to fill in for L.Diarra. And perhaps a back-up striker.
Preferably Spanish players, like Raul Albiol, Xabi Alonso or David Silva.
Cause if the 6+5 rule comes thorugh they’ll be in big trouble.

I’t’s not that difficult to manage a club in a way that makes sence.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | May 6th, 2009 at 4:14 am

btw Boulahrouz played full 90 minutes for Stuttgart. Good performance, dissapointing result. 2-2.
Mathijsen also in good form for HSV.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tiju | May 6th, 2009 at 4:19 am

@finni hope they will buy him otherwise no hope for them(Arsenal) in 09-10.

Posted from India

By Jeroen | May 6th, 2009 at 5:03 am

Van Der Vaart: Chelsea, Arsenal or Juventus (small chance Bayern). Preferably Premier League.

Huntelaar: Should only go to Arsenal if Adebayor gets kicked. Which I dont’ see happening, but it should. I don’t think Arsene will pick Hunter over Ade, even though Ade has been performing poorly. Arsenal needs a couple of older, more experienced players, and this is their chance to grab some which are also suited for and used to an attacking style of football.

Sneijder: I’ve been hearing that a deal with Inter Milan has already undergone talks, so most likely he will be going to Milan, just not AC.

Drenthe: HSV or Bayern. Not ready for the top of the top yet.

Van Nistelrooy: Don’t know. They will probably dump him. I think he will go to Italy since it is his dream to still play there (you know, cover all three big leagues). With his age, he would really fit in at the retirement home for pro football known as AC Milan.

Robben: Probably considered the best of this lot right now, yet the hardest to guess a team for. I doubt he will go to Barca after having played for Madrid. I expect that likely he would end up back at Chelsea. ManU might dish out the cash necessary for him (and then Chelsea fans will forever hate him).

I would prefer they would all go to Arsenal, but thats just not going to happen .

Posted from Netherlands

By Texans tickets | May 6th, 2009 at 5:15 am

I am big fan of soccer and where I see some info and topic about soccer I would love to read and get knowledge as I required to me.

Posted from India

By Jeroen | May 6th, 2009 at 5:33 am

You can start by calling it football . Welcome and enjoy yourself.

Posted from Netherlands

By Ruud | May 6th, 2009 at 6:17 am

Real Madrid is only good for destroying players and as I am reading in many websites, more and more dutch fans are hating this club.
I would like to see all the dutch players out of Real Madrid.

Posted from Canada

By OranjeRules | May 6th, 2009 at 7:26 am

It would be nice to see all of the Oranje players now on Real Madrid come to England, that way we here in North America can see them all on TV more.

Except for Drenthe of course, he needs to go back to Holland and get his game back on track. Perhaps Old Horsey Face may want to go back to Holland as well and end his career with PSV (although I would love to see Ajax grab him).

Here is what I would like to see:
Robben – ManScum
Sneijder – Gooners
Hunter – ManCity
van der Vaart – ‘Pool
van Nistelrooy – Ajax
Drenthe – Feyenoord

By Alex | May 6th, 2009 at 7:28 am

Heard Mourinho could become Real trainer, surprise!. That would be a perfect fit. Mourinho likes having big buck to spend blindly. I bet we’ll be seeing Robben go for sure then, he doesn’t really like The Special One which btw sounds like he’s actually mentally retarded.
Bruno Alves and C.Ronaldo would be at Real in no time.
Sneijder, V.d.Vaart, Robben, Drenthe, Huntelaar and V.Nistelrooij should just be on one line and leave that god awful, superstarcraving maniac club. I’m starting to think F.Perez might actually have suffered brain damage. I’m hoping Ibrahimovic won’t fall for their tricks so easily.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | May 6th, 2009 at 7:33 am

I see V.d.Vaart leaving for Arsenal or Chelsea rather than Liverpool of Man united, but Bayern Munchen would be a perfect fit for V.d.Vaart though, if Ribery were to leave, he could be their main man.
V.Nistelrooij can choose almost any club he wants.
Huntelaar would fit well in Serie A, but that competition has lost it’s shine, so make it Man united, Berbatov out, Huntelaar in.
Sneijder would fit in anywhere.

But i’m hoping Guardiola will get at least one dutch player. Really want to see dutch players at Barca. It’s a match made in heaven. Gio was marvelous there. Maybe Marcellis. He needs another CB so case closed

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | May 6th, 2009 at 7:49 am

no madrid dutch players will go to assernal

Posted from United States

By 3ric | May 6th, 2009 at 8:21 am

Drenthe: mid-table La Liga team.
Huntelaar: stay
Van der Vaart: Chelsea or Bayern
Sneijder: Chelsea, Milan or Juve
Robben: stay
Van Nistelrooy: PSV

I’d be surprised if Arsenal makes a move for a midfielder (Van der Vaart or Sneijder) given the fact that they’ve just recently acquired Arshavin and are still hopeful for the return of Rosicky next season. Besides, it seems that Wenger rate Denilson quite highly. Chelsea, on the other hand, definitely need a new CM with Lampard, Deco and Ballack are not getting any younger.

Posted from United States

By Rob | May 6th, 2009 at 8:37 am

Robben: If he goes, and with Raul’s sway at Madrid he may well, probably Bayern Munich – Robben will only be sold if someone like Ronaldo is bought, and United or another team may well buy Ribery as a replacement.

Sneijder and Van der Vaart – I think the same teams will be in the market for these two – Chelsea, Milan and Juventus. I think Sneijder’s the most likely to stay at Madrid of all of them though.

Drenthe: Back to Holland – has to.

Huntelaar: Might well stay since he hasn’t had a full season yet. If not, AC Milan might see him as a good replacement for Inzaghi.

Van Nistelrooy: No idea. I don’t think he’ll ever be a goal machine again anywhere but Holland. It’s hard to flog an injured player though, so he might well stay put.

Posted from Japan

By Mathew | May 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am

Drenthe- Loan to Getafe
Sneijder- Should stay
Van der Vaart- Chelsea
Robben- Should stay
Van Nistelrooy- Should Stay

By ferenc | May 6th, 2009 at 9:59 am

drenthe: hamburg,schalke,hertha or feyenoord or loan to a spanish tema (depor,valladolid,malaga etc)
sneijder: inter,milan or stay
vdv: chelsea,inter,milan,valencia (especially if real want to buy villa/silva)
huntelaar: stay or arsenal,manchester city etc
rvn: psv or stay
robben: the most problematic because of his injuries. he has no place in top teams like barca,manu,liverpool (for two reasons: the system is not good for him like manu,liverpool or the club has better and less injury-prone players in his position like at barca). italy would be too harsh for him. staying? if raul and higuain think he’s too selfish perez won’t keep him. no idea about his optimal future destination. maybe arsenal.

Posted from Hungary