Saviola swaps Barcelona for Madrid
From the Barcelona blog:
New Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has confirmed that ex-blaugrana Javier Saviola has agreed to sign for Real Madrid. Saviola left Barça as a free agent and Madrid therefore will not have to pay a penny for him.
Saviola has been at Barça for the last 6 seasons though he did spend time on loan to Sevilla and Monaco. Last season he had few opportunities to play and the refusal of Barça to renew his contract under the same conditions led to his inevitable departure. It remains to be seen if he will have more chances wearing the white shirt of Madrid.
Madrid have also signed two central defenders this week. Cristoph Metzelder from Borussia Dortmund, and Porto’s Pepe who has cost a whopping €30million.
Barça are still trying to come to an agreement for Gabi Milito but Zaragoza are refusing to drop their asking price, so negotiations are continuing. It still seems highly likely that he will sign eventually but it may take longer than originally believed.
Nig writes on the best Barcelona blog, like, ever.
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Discussion - 5 Responses
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I suspect that Savi will become a surplus their as he is in Barcelona.
Pity United are over-crowded with strikers. As a free agent, he would have been perfect.
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I’m surprised there we no ‘confirmed’ interest from other premiership clubs for him? Really surprised that Wenger didn’t enquire about him (it was within his budget
Saviola’s fall from fame has been incredible, and I don’t think he’ll get enough opportunities at Madrid either but it’s amazing not many clubs tried to sign him
Barca wasted saviola, he was given chances, he scored goals still they didnt play him. He’s still young(25? 26?) and has got a lot more to give and he may be the ideal partner for RVN. If not, he can go back to his domestic league, thats what riquelme and veron did, and look where they are now, playing in the finals of the copa……….
I think this could turn out to be a very shrewd signing for Real Madrid. And if it doesn’t, he was free…
Saviola is still only 25 years old, knows the Spanish league well, has experience in Europe and at International level, has moderate wages, and as I said before, was free. Which is, by the way, the best price.
And in addition to this I think he’ll have a bit of a point to prove. Similar to Eto’o a few years ago, without being such a volatile c*nt of a person ( http://www.elmundo-eldia.com/2004/08/13/illes_balears/1092348000.html )
In the first three seasons at Barcelona, he scored 58 goals in 133 appearances (28 of them as a substitute) in the league and 2 Champions’ League + 1 UEFA Cup campaigns. His playing time began to be limited once Joan Laporta was elected president. Saviola was the most high-profile and successful signing of the Gaspart era, and Laporta wanted nothing to do with anything identified with that period. This explains Barcelona’s preference to sign incredibly poor strikers like Santi Ezquerro or Maxi Lopez (who cost 6m euros) even though they could have called upon Saviola at any time.