La Liga - Raul Albiol to join Real Madrid

Eurosport - Thu, 25 Jun 13:32:00 2009

Real Madrid have agreed to sign defender Raul Albiol from Valencia on a five-year contract, the big-spending Liga club announced.

FOOTBALL Raúl Albiol Valencia - 0

The deal will be completed next week once the 23-year-old Spain international, who is at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, completes a medical and signs his contract, Real said on their website.

Spanish media reported the transfer fee was around 15 million euros (£13m).

Albiol will become the second confirmed signing by new Real president Florentino Perez following his purchase of Brazil playmaker Kaka from Milan for around 67 million euros.

Perez has also bid £80m for Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, with the deal expected to be completed in the next few days.

Albiol, who suffered a serious car crash in 2004 which left him without a spleen, is likely to partner Portuguese international Pepe in central defence although Madrid could buy another centre half this summer, with Pepe six matches into a 10-game ban.

Albiol made his Valencia debut in 2003 and first played for Spain in a 3-1 win over Denmark in 2007.

Reuters

Comment 9 - 28 of 28

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. I don't know why Madrid bought abiol, he is nothing­ special. Pique or Vidic are way better. I really hope­ that Madrid would get to buy one player from Barcelona,­ like Pique, or Iniesta, or Toure, or Eto'o, or­ Xavi, they are all great players. I'm afraid that­ will not happen, because one, they love Barcelona, two,­ Madrid can't afford these players, they would cost­ too much, because they are the best at their possition,­ and three I don't think these players would leave­ the best club in the world, for Madrid. I just really­ hope we keep pressure on Barcelona next season, because­ if we don't Madrid will be embarased, because they­ have wasted all that money.

    From getachew44, on Sat 27 Jun 8:23PM
  2. IMO i would be happy to see ruben delared but his­ career is almost end
    coz of heart problem.

    From getachew44, on Fri 26 Jun 5:37PM
  3. No matter d purchase, real madrid aint gonna b anywhere­ near d champs. Guardiola has a point 2 prove. No matter­ d arsenal of stars madrid portrays, barcelona wud stil­ do wat they r best known 4. We did it b4, we wil do it­ again 2 tel d world dat last season wasn't a fluke

    From Babades, on Fri 26 Jun 4:20PM
  4. @getachew44

    What has happened to ruben de la red? will­ he play again.

    From Cerberus, on Fri 26 Jun 1:55PM
  5. if perez can get tore it would be nice
    tore is­ joker!
    he is the one make barca balanced

    From getachew44, on Fri 26 Jun 1:13PM
  6. i would like to see Yaya Toure come to real madrid, and­ i think barca are trying to get rid of him, that is why­ they are going after mascherano.

    From Raimo K, on Fri 26 Jun 1:06PM
  7. sure essien and zapata are on the list but that depend­ on their teams
    if it was only wish i would go for­ vidic lahm and yaya tore too, but i know this 3 may not­ come
    but essien and zapata would.

    From getachew44, on Fri 26 Jun 12:24PM
  8. have you heard anything about zaparta and essien. Are­ real really trying to buy them.

    From Raimo K, on Fri 26 Jun 12:07PM
  9. :) cant wait for next season. Real madrid will be a joy­ to watch with all these world class players playing for­ us.

    From Raimo K, on Fri 26 Jun 12:05PM
  10. honestly about the new manager peligreni, he is the­ best choice at the moment
    coz of many reasons
    1 he­ know la liga very well
    2 imagine villareal come to 1st­ division in 2001 for the the 1st time in their history­ he make them one of the strongest team in la liga, with­ small budget, they also have good record in CL
    3 he­ make many unknown players and change them to stars eg­ rossi senna cazorla and forlan
    so if he small team very­ strong team, i think he will make real madrid the­ strondest

    look raimo i'll give you the starters­ and sub
    casillas
    ramos pepe albeol zapata
    ­ snijder essien/alonso
    ronaldo kaka ribery
    ­ villa/benzema
    sub
    dudek
    marcelo garay tores­ maicon
    fabrigas guti robben lass gago
    nisterlrooy ­ higuen raul
    sometimes the starters change accourding­ to the match, cesc maicon, robben or higuen can be the­ starters

    From getachew44, on Fri 26 Jun 11:29AM
  11. yes you are right we need a lot of world class players­ to compete in all the competitions. i think we have all­ the strikers we need. maybe we could use one more.­ Benzema of villa. but we definetly need a world class­ defender someone like vidic. i think we should keep van­ nistelroy, because he is a proven goal scorer and if we­ would sell him now we would probably get about 5 millon­ for him because of his age, so it would be best if we­ keep him. what do you think of our new manager? And who­ would be your ideal starting 11 for next season.

    From Raimo K, on Fri 26 Jun 10:53AM
  12. this way we will have
    casillas
    ramos, pepe, albeol,­ garay, zapata
    essien, alonso, ribery, kaka, robben,­ snijder, guti
    raul, huntelar, (benzema/villa)
    this are­ only 16 players
    to play in all competition though the­ season, we need atleast 22 players.
    what about van­ nisterlrooy, salgado, tores, javi garcia, negredo and­ marcelo?
    Raimo plz don't forget 5 players are not­ enough in difffence.
    i think we should buy fabrigas,­ maicon and clichy or lahm
    we have also to keep lass and­ gago
    this way we will go for all titles

    From getachew44, on Fri 26 Jun 10:42AM
  13. and also sell drenthe, looks like his not having a very­ good time in real madrid shirt.

    From Raimo K, on Fri 26 Jun 10:13AM
  14. to getachew44. well i think Raul and Guti will­ definetly stay, because they a symbols of real madrid.­ But i think we should also keep Higuain,robben,­ huntelaar, sneijder. But we should get rid of heinze,­ van der vaart, both diarras, metzelder, saviola. not­ sure about gago.

    From Raimo K, on Fri 26 Jun 10:06AM
  15. OI OI a defender ? Well done Perez this makes sense.

    From Cerberus, on Fri 26 Jun 1:46AM
  16. now this signing look more sense

    raimo k, getachew..­ why dont u two get a room?

    From gorka, on Fri 26 Jun 1:37AM
  17. not this signing look more sense

    raimo k, getachew..­ why dont u two get a room?

    From gorka, on Fri 26 Jun 1:37AM
  18. Visca el Barca!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Fri 26 Jun 12:03AM
  19. At least they bought a defender for a more normal­ price...but still their budget is through the­ roof...where the hell are they getting all of this­ money from????

    they dont need ribery or villa...they­ got higuain raul, van nistelrooy, huntelaar and­ negredo..theres no point in spending big on a­ striker.... bolster defence and defensive midfield more

    From rbrangmanjr, on Thu 25 Jun 11:50PM
  20. Raimo good team
    but don't forget we must keep some­ good players on the bench some may get injured some may­ be tiered
    who do you think will remain on the­ bench?
    who must be sold and who must stay?
    we must be­ strong in la liga and CL, to do this we must have 23 or­ 25 good players
    so don't you think we must keep­ some of our players?
    do you think we must sell all­ dutch players?

    From getachew44, on Thu 25 Jun 9:53PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account