Football Mania - Spain

The current football season has ended; but that has not stopped the rumour mills and papers from publishing stories about transfers and related news to sell copies. The past few days even i have been constantly checking out the websites for news relating to expected major transfers viz. Kaka to Real Madrid and the future of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery. The aim of this blog is to put down my ideas of transfers that are essential for the big clubs in Spain,Italy,England and Germany. Not that i am an expert on all this, but nevertheless its fun to pen down your thoughts.

Real Madrid

I would like to start off with Real Madrid, making all the noise in the transfer market in the past month or so thanks to the election of its president Mr.Perez.

The last season for Real Madrid was a poor one. Lack of proper and fit defenders, injuries to sneijder and diarra and a flagging front line. Do not discount their performance that soon though, they did not have a fit Nistelrooy in attack leaving it to a ageing Raul and newbie Higuain.

What they need:

1. A solid defender in the mould of a Stam or Vidic to replace Cannavaro

2. A creative midfielder to be the focus when they attack; ideally replace Van der waart with Kaka

The idea is to build on their existing team not re-engineer them altogether.

Formation for the forthcoming season

Back 5: Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, (A good solid defender), Drenthe

Mid: M.Diarra/L.Diarra, Sneijder, Kaka, Robben

Forward: Raul (Higuain) and Nistelrooy (Huntelaar)

They should cash in on: Saviola, Metzelder and other fringe players

Barcelona

The reigning european champions, this team plays football as an art form. When they pass around it feels like a samurai neatly slicing through with his Katana. Blessed in attack with Messi, Henry and Eto'o, gifted in the mid-field with xavi, iniesta, toure they are rightly sitting on top of the european perch.

Where are they weak? - Defence

But then tell their coach Pep Guardiola about it and be sure to be greeted with a warm smile and a polite reply advocating the philosophy of FC Barcelona; "play to attack and win, if your opponent scores goals, score more than him to win" - simple thoughts but one that is ingrained in every player emerging from La Masia to the new entrants.

Where do they lack is in a big old type of forward who can punish opposition defenders for not being tough, someone like a shearer/viduka etc. Currently they play eto'o and henry as recognized forwards, though they do have Gudjohnsen in their squad, he is heavily under-utilized and of course hasn't had the dizzying success of his other striker comrades. Eto'o is another person who i personally feel does not add a new dimension to their attack. He is too similar to Henry and a little lesser in terms of ability to head and be physically strong under pressure. I would recommend a sale of gudjohnsen and eto'o and bring in a adebayor or a amuari or a zlatan. That would be perfect.

To the midfield, a little bit of a physical presence would do them great good incase xavi or iniesta fail to impose themselves; someone with a great tackling ability and break-up the play of the opposition. But presently Toure is doing a great job.

I have always had my doubts in Marquez in defence, an elegant defender, he is a bit susceptible to pacey and physically strong strikers. I would suggest a big defender at the heart of Barca and that would be it.

Sell: Hleb,Eto'o and Gudjohnsen

Buy: Ibrahimovic/Trezeguet, A defender

There is ruumour that they would go in for Ribery, i would only like to wonder if he would play defense!!