Beyond Ruud van Nistelrooy the natural striking options
at Madrid are thin. Raúl tends to play behind the 'number 9', while
Javier Saviola is apparently still unable to capture his boss'
attention.
Thus coach Bernd Schuster, who is allegedly growing very much tired
of the Cristiano Ronaldo soap opera, is seeking to reinforce his
side not with a winger but rather a forward
With Ruud set to play less and less of a role in upcoming seasons
due to his advanced age, the search is on for a young gun. Two
names thus spring to mind: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Karim
Benzema.
Benzema would be the harder of the two to land, given that he, his
agent and his club president have repeatedly stated that not until
next summer at the earlier will he leave Lyon.
Ajax man Huntelaar, meanwhile, has been linked with moves all
across the continent and seems somewhat likely to secure one.
€20-25m could be enough for Madrid to coax him to the Spanish
capital, but Bernabé president Ramon Calderón is apparently saving
his pennies for a €90m Cristiano Ronaldo bid.
It is this Ronaldo infatuation that seems to have put paid to David
Villa's chance of being the next Madrid striker. MD also proposes
that this is because it was Vila that kept Raúl out of the Spain
Euro 2008 squad, which could generate bad blood.
