Valdano: No more Real signings

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Real Madrid director general Jorge Valdano has ruled out making any more major signings until the club can offload some existing players.

Madrid have splashed out almost £200million already this summer on bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Raul Albiol, while Alvaro Negredo and Ezequiel Garay have also been added to the squad.

A deal for Getafe midfielder Esteban Granero to return to the Bernabeu also appears to be close, but that could well be the final addition until Madrid, who have been chasing Liverpool duo Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, manage to trim their squad down.

Players such as Javier Saviola, Javi Garcia, Fabio Cannavaro and Jordi Codina have already moved on, but Madrid will be keen to cash in on a number of other first-teamers in order to recoup some of their money and free up some squad space.

"The transfer door will remain closed until some players have left, other than for exceptional cases such as that of Granero," said Valdano, who admits it has not been easy to offload players.

"There are days when you take a step forward and others a step back. We are continually working on player exits. It's a difficult market but until the last moment we will continue working hard on finding a possible exit for the players that are not in the coach's plans."

One Madrid player whose future has been in the news of late is Dutch striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

Huntelaar, who only moved to Spain at the start of the year, had looked set to join German side Stuttgart after missing Madrid's pre-season trip to Ireland to try to sort out his future, but that move has now fallen through.

A number of other clubs have been linked to the former Ajax player, but Valdano insists there is nothing concrete on the table for Huntelaar at this time.

"There is no firm offer. We had a great opportunity, but the player decided to let it pass. There is a long way to go until the end of August and we hope to find another European club that is interested.

"He (Huntelaar) will occupy a secondary role in the squad because he has not had the same preparation as his team-mates and he already knows what the club's intentions are."

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Raul is not assured of a place in Real Madrid's new look team and the club's other strikers are also playing for their places at the Bernabeu, according to Miguel Pardeza.

Los Merengues' sporting director believes that the team captain cannot, and will not, expect any preferential treatment from coach Manuel Pellegrini.

Despite being a crowd favourite, Raul will have to earn his place in the team and compete with the numerous forwards now vying to be part of the team.

"If Raul has played up until now it is because he has deserved to," Pardeza told Publico.

"He has had his ups and downs, but that is normal for any player that has been at Real Madrid for 16 years.

"This season he will be just another player and the coach will have to evaluate how he will fit in and what options he has. There will be no drama made of it."

Alvaro Negredo was re-signed from Almeria in June and could stay, but Pardez hinted that it would be preferable if the striker left, although he is unsure what will happen to Ruud van Nistelrooy.

"It would not be a problem if [Negredo] stays. But we have signed a player in that position and have some big names. If options are there then we will look at them," he continued.

"The doctors are optimistic [about Van Nistelrooy], but we are talking about an older player. It is difficult to know what will happen with him."

Real Madrid have already seen one youth team player leave as Javi Garcia has signed for Benfica and Pardeza admits that the club cannot keep every player that comes through the ranks.

"When you start a season you analyse the squad and there are players that you count on and others that you do not," he explained.

"Then there are other players whose positions are undecided and depending on how pre-season goes, you make a decision later on.

"Javi could have stayed here, but he realised that he was not going to play much and a move was the best thing for everyone.

"Once a player reaches the first team you cannot forget he is a youth team product, but he is another player and is open to the same conditions as everyone else."

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