Arjen Robben and Gabriel Heinze join Real Madrid – does Real now have the strongest squad in Europe?

Ollie Irish

24th, August 2007

17 Comments

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Real Madrid new signings Arjen Robben and Gabriel Heinze are presented at the Bernabeu stadium on August 23, 2007 in Madrid, Spain.
Photo Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
With Robben and Heinze on board, Madrid now have one strong-looking squad – consider that this summer they have also signed Dutch wonderkid Royston Drenthe, German centre-half Christoph Metzelder, Portuguese defender Pepe, Dutch flyer Wesley Sneijder and Argentine pocket rocket Javier Saviola, as well as welcoming back Julio Baptista from Arsenal and Roberto Soldado from Osasuna.


Real has a younger, hungrier squad than for some time – it helps that they cleared out some veteran galacticos (Beckham, Ivan Helguera, Roberto Carlos and Emerson, for starters), as well as some deadwood (Antonio Cassano, Francisco Pavon and Jose Antonio Reyes).
I really like the look of their squad, and think they could do very well in the Champions League this season. In fact, they are my early tip to win it. Do you agree?

Posted in Transfers & Rumours

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17 Comments

  1. Andrew says:

    Can anyone explain to me why Chelsea would want to sell robben? i am neither a chelsea fan nor take much interest in them but from what i have seen he is an excellent player and one which a rich club like themselves could do with

  2. Karan says:

    I agree with the whole “Real look better than ever” school of thought. In fact, I dare say they look like having (potentially) the best team in Europe, though Chelsea and Milan might have something to say about that.
    And what about Bayern? They’re looking like an irresistible force of nature over in Germany, and they’re wounded tigers. Bayern are my dark horses for the Champions League, while Chelsea, Milan and Real are my frontrunners…you really can’t pick between those three

  3. devil says:

    It’s not the first time Real have spent big and, although they have another collection of exciting individuals, it’s getting them to play as a team that’s usually the problem.
    They’ve been terrible in pre-season so far and lost their first competitive match to Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup.
    I’d put my money on Schuster being sacked before they win anything

  4. Ollie, Pies Ed. says:

    I really like Bayern too Karan. Toni and Ribery were great signings, Klose too.

  5. ryu says:

    the point is that now real got some workforce in the midfield in the names of sneider and drenthe together with god technics like robben and robinho. not to mention RvN and so on. If they capture dani alves they could become unstopable ;

  6. Chringle says:

    Two words spring to mind when I look at the new Real Kit…
    1. Pot
    2. Pourri

  7. Kipp says:

    ‘Bayern are my dark horses for the champions league’
    They must be seeing as they arent in it
    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    idiot

  8. DookieStyle says:

    Yeah…Bayern will win a Cup, the UEFA Cup.

  9. osas says:

    Am I dreaming here, has everybody forgotten Barcelona this soon?

  10. OmegaSupreme says:

    All the pieces are in place they just need a grand master to move them round the board. Schuster can do it if the board give him time. Lot of young talent too.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Bayern arent in the champions league though..
    so your dark horse is already out the window =[
    i think the best side in all is either barcelona
    or chelsea if shevchenko starts playing like he can

  12. Anonymous says:

    Bayern arent in the champions league though..
    so your dark horse is already out the window =[
    i think the best side in all is either barcelona
    or chelsea if shevchenko starts playing like he can

  13. Joe says:

    I can’t imagine anyone stopping Barcelona, domestically or in Europe. Ronaldinho and Messi have been on form in the preseason and Henry and Eto’o could very well score over 40 goals between them. I also think ManYoo may have something to say about things before all is said and done.
    That said, I’m not fully sold on Heinze. He plays some great games, but was the one beaten on almost every big goal that United surrendered in last year’s Champions League.

  14. Matthew Burke says:

    the Barça squad looks more likely to step out this season, with Messi, Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Henry !
    Real have just the likes of Van Nisteelroy, Robben, Saviola and Baptista…it’s not such a dream team

  15. ~egyptian-gooner~ says:

    They have an excellent team……… But a crap manager. They shouldve kept capello or fot juande ramos instead of bernt shusster

  16. Kate says:

    What? I didn’t know Real Madrid had shown interest on buying Heinze…When that happened? The last thing I heard about was his fight with Man Utd because he wanted to play with Liverpool…Anyway, I hope Real wins this season again, but I think Barcelona’s got a good squad too, so it would be tight.

  17. john says:

    good article and Barça should again make a strong CL claim this year.
    No WC to compete with and many stars not going for EU08 nor the African C.
    Tw’Il be fun to watch.