Van der Vaart joins Real Madrid

The Spanish giants have lodged a new bid of €10m and expect that to be accepted alowing talks to begin between the clubs and the player's representative.With Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival now more and more unlikely, Madrid have turned their attentions to other players after Bernd Schuster pleaded with the club's hierarchy to add to his squad.
Van der Vaart has been on the club's list for months, but with all the focus placed on signing just one player Los Merengues are now having to push on with Plan B.
Hamburg meet Real Madrid in the Emirates Cup at Arsenal's stadium on Saturday and then play Juventus on Sunday, giving Van der Vaart two chances to showcase his talent to Schuster.
Ramón Calderón has backed down over his plans not to sign anyone should Ronaldo not be available and relented for the sake of the coached who asked for some new faces to freshen things up.According to Marca, Hamburg have decided to sell and use the money to find a replacement and after turning down just €6m last week, will say yes to the €10m now on the table.
Schuster is believed to have asked sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, on July 10 to do a deal with Hamburg after initial contact was made and a deal looked set to be done then.Van der Vaart's arrival could see two or three new players arrive at the Bernabéu which would certainly mean that any bid for Ronaldo had been postponed this year.

Match Report:LASK Linz-Real Madrid

LASK Linz-Real Madrid

Madrid coach Bernd Schuster made several unusual alterations to his side ahead of the fixture, with Jerzy Dudek taking Iker Casillas' goalkeeper slot and Javi García dropping back into central defence due to Pepe's injury.But despite the makeshift nature of the line-up, after a disastrous settling-in period that saw Madrid go 1-0 down the Spanish side were not to prove troubles at all for the vast bulk of the game. While giving away such a cheap goal will worry the boss, the way his side rallied to recover will surely boost his spirits, although the late consolation for LASK will not.

LASK Linz 1-3 Real Madrid
1-0 Saurer 14'
1-1 Julio Baptista 20'
1-2 Raúl 45'
1-3 Saviola 84'
2-3 Mijatovic 90'

Real Madrid:
Dudek; Salgado, Heinze, Javi García, Torres; Diarra; Robben, Guti, Julio Baptista (Sneijder 46); Raúl (Saviola 46), Higuaín (Van Nistelrooy 46).

Pepe Says, Ronaldo is Looking Forward to Join Real Madrid

For over the last couple of months the issue regarding Cristiano Ronaldo’s future and his speculated move to Real Madrid from Manchester Untied has been the centre of attention in European club football. Real Madrid has already found their record offer rejected by Manchester United in their pursuit to sign the Portuguese star. However, Ronaldo already expressed his wish to play for Real Madrid for a number of occasions.
Recently, Ronaldo’s Portugal national teammate and Real Madrid defender Pepe said that he had talks with Ronaldo about his move to Real. According to Pepe, Ronaldo was keen to join the Spanish club. Pepe also added that Ronaldo was looking forward to join Real Madrid knowing the greatness of the club.
However, Manchester United chief executive David Gill made it clear that the club owner, the Glazer family, is not interested to sell the Portuguese star to Real Madrid.

Schuster wants Robinho to stay with Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster is adamant that Chelsea target Robinho will remain at the club next season.

Reports that the Brazil international is on his way to the Premier League have been rife, with Manchester United and Chelsea favourites to secure his services.
The 24-year-old's agent, Wagner Ribeiro, claimed on Tuesday the Blues were winning the race, admitting Robinho is keen to link up with new boss and fellow Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.
But Schuster believes the Madrid directors would be unwise to let Robinho leave.
'I don't see Robinho out of this team because it doesn't make any sense,' he told Spanish newspaper AS. 'It's normal that being in Brazil stories reach him from 10,000km away, but it's rubbish.
'He has to be with us. He's a player in our project.'

Robinho is believed to be upset with Real after they refused to allow him to join up with the Brazil squad for this summer's Olympic Games.
Wagner also told reporters his client felt 'undervalued' by Real bosses, who were reportedly considering using the forward in a trade deal for Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, Schuster insists the 24-year-old is one of the most important players in the squad and revealed he sent the player a video of his goals from last season to try and raise his spirits.
'We've shown him his goals from last year and we all realised that he is one of the most important players in this squad and we need him for the next few years,' Schuster continued.
'The only problem is when a player can't train with a group as he should, and more so in the case of Robinho who needs to show his joy on the pitch and to be happy with his team-mates.
'He's recovering from his injury and that is cheering him up. I'm very calm. The day he starts training with the team again he'll soon pick up. It's not a worry.'

Real Madrid Preseason

After a week in the Algarve, Real Madrid now travel to Irdning to tackle hard pre-season work. This is the fifht year the team trains in the Austrian town. Double training session a dayThe players have gradually adapted to work in the Algarve during the past week. They will arrive in Irdning at 18:50 this evening to intensify their training.The squad will attend a double session every day at the sports facilities of the Scholss Pichlarn Hotel, where they will stay the next ten days. Men who played in the Euro but still haven't rejoined the team will do so througout the week . Sergio Ramos, Casillas, De la Red and Metzelder will be the last to arrive. The only players missing will be those who are set to participate in the Olympic Games this summer. Friendly on 27 JulyReal Madrid's first friendly of the season will be against Austrian First Division side Lask Linz. The encounter will serve to see in what physical condition the players are in.The squad will travel to London three days later to participate in their most important summer tournament this summer: the Emirates Cup. They will face Hamburg, Juventus and host side Arsenal. The team will return to Madrid two days later only to leave for Colombia on 6 August to play in a firendly in Bogotá. On 12 August they are set to face Eintrach in Frankfurt in their last match prior to the first Spanish Super Cup clash.