Spanish Debate: Top 10 Best Liga Signings 07/08

Now that the ten worst signings are out of the way (see yesterday's debate here), let's turn our attention to happier matters and see which players have excelled in their new surroundings. They could be big-name transfers who justified their reputation and expense, young guns who have wasted no time in settling in, freebies who have proven to their former side that letting them go may have been a mistake, or young loanees itching to make a good impression.

10) Simão Sabrosa

We've not yet seen the best of him, and he cost a pretty penny, but the Portuguese international has an undeniable touch of class about him that sees him a worthy member of the top ten.

Keeping Luis García out of the first eleven, the former Barcelona man has marked his return to Spanish football with a series of fine displays, even allowing for the fact that he's not always been in his exact preferred position. Following on from his time at Benfica, he's not entirely lost his eye for goal, netting 7 times in 22 starts in La Liga.

Along with Diego Forlán, then, the Portuguese ace is one of the big-money signings who has managed to show his worth at the rojiblancos this season, but his true value is in the fact that there is yet more to come. If Javier Aguirre can encourage him to up his game a notch, he will unquestionably be one of the Liga's top players. For now, he's not half bad.

9) Seydou Keita

Sevilla climbed to success last season off the back of two hard-hitters in central midfield and numerous options ready to come off the bench in order to attack. But what would be better than to be able to combine such qualities in the form of one player?

Enter Seydou Keita, an imposing Malian signed from Racing Club Lens of Ligue 1. In what has been a difficult season for Sevilla overall, he has been one of the more consistent performers, offering both a dominant midfield presence and the willingness to stride forward and support the attack.

Having coaxed the captain away from Lens, he has three more years to go on his Sevilla deal after this one, and considering that he's just 28, the lion-hearted influence may in fact be in Nervión for the long haul.

8) Mata

Valencia's dire season will be one quickly glossed over by any triumphalist histories of Los Che, but one name who'll definitely enter the annals is Juan Manuel Mata.

The 19-year-old forward moved from Real Madrid Juvenil A to Real Madrid Castilla at the start of last season, and his first campaign in proper league football saw him excel in an attacking role. However, his prospects of making the final, biggest jump to Real Madrid proper seemed slim, so when Valencia came calling, he was off like a shot.

And while Real Madrid look on with glum realism at their limited striking options after Ruud van Nistelrooy and Raúl, Mata has wasted no time in settling in at the Mestalla. Already a Spanish U-21 international, he's hit three goals in twelve starts, providing some assists as well. He's likely only to get better, and considering that he no doubt cost very little to sign and wage, his signing seems to have been a rare masterstroke from the bungling paymasters at Valencia.

7) Carlos Martins

Recreativo de Huelva operate with one of the lowest - perhaps even the lowest - budgets in the Liga, so when they shell out for players, they need to get it right. In Carlos Martins, they most certainly did.

A popular figure among the fans at former club Sporting Clube, continued injury problems and fallings-out with the coach eventually saw him head southeast for Huelva, where he wasted no time at all in battling his way into the supporters' good books. He's also a mainstay of the first eleven, having started 28 Liga games so far - more than anyone else except for the goalkeeper Sorrentino, forward Camuñas, and fellow successful signing Martin Cáceres. A tenacious midfielder, he fills something resembling a box-to-box one, one augmented by some fiendishly good ability from set-pieces.

Sporting still own 40% of his rights, but Recre fans will hope that he's in Andalucia for the duration.

6) Pepe

That's right: Pepe. Yes, yes: he cost the earth, he had a laughably bad start, and he's been injured a lot. But in a season in which Fabio Cannavaro has all too often fallen short, he has overcome both his difficult beginnings and shaken off the monkey-on-his-back that was his ludicrous price tag to become an integral part of the Real Madrid line-up.

The 25-year-old cost an absurd €30m when he was signed from Porto in summer, but while other players may have treated such a price tag as an ever-present albatross, Pepe seems scarcely affected by it. Barring injury and his slow start, he has been largely consistent, and seems to be a long-term replacement for Fabio Cannavaro. Who would have thought that Madrid's most expensive, least lauded and most questioned summer signing might just have turned out to be the best?

5) Andrés Guardado

Deportivo La Coruña are not a club recently famed for austerity, but massive debts have seen the recent title-winners revert to their status of small-town club, with small transfers to match. Nonetheless, they did manage to claw €7m from down the back of the sofa to buy Andrés Guardado from Mexican side Atlas in summer, and they'll be infinitely glad that they did.

The 21-year-old had enjoyed just two seasons of first team football before arriving at the Riazor, but he settled into a left-wing Liga role as if it was a comfortable pair of slippers. Despite currently being injured, he remains the club's second-top scorer in the Liga this season with five strikes, and although Depor's best form this season has coincided with his spell on the sidelines, he showed enough of a spark earlier in the season to be considered a vital member of the squad already.

4) Giuseppe Rossi

Another youngster, this one came from the glittering surroundings of Old Trafford before finding himself at the Madrigal.

It's not too many 21-year-olds who have played in the Premiership, Serie A and La Liga, but that's precisely what New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi has done. Granted his prospects in the English league were dim, but he managed almost a 1:2 goal:game ratio with Parma before being snapped up by the Yellow Submarine at the start of the current campaign.

The Italian U-21 international has since hit 11 goals in 17 starts, with his pace and link-up play providing much joy for Villarreal in the absence of departed Diego Forlán. Manchester United retain a buy-back clause for the player, who cost the Madrigal side around €10m, but Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping that they don't exercise it.

3) Rubén de la Red/Esteban Granero

Two players, one success story. De la Red south across the city to Getafe on a "permanent" deal - albeit one augmented with a re-buy option, while Granero joined up with new boss Michael Laudrup on a loan deal. Both have excelled as Getafe go from strength to strength both in Europe and in the Copa del Rey, joining Cata Diaz as being tremendous summer signings for the Azulones.

There is talk of one, possibly both of them returning to the Bernabéu for the new campaign, with de la Red said to be in with a significant chance of establishing himself as a first-team player in the white shirt. He would be delighted to do so, but whether or not Madrid exercise their buy-back option is, for now, anyone's guess. Should he find himself called up for Spain's Euro 2008 squad, that would help his prospects significantly. Granero, meanwhile, could be loaned out to Geta again, and Azulones everywhere will hope that this is the case.

2) Daniel Güiza

Mallorca's sole entry on the list takes the number two spot. Daniel González Güiza is back in Mallorca, and this time he's making a success of it.

Indeed, it's strange that he was allowed to leave the club at all. First arriving from hometown club Xerez in 1999, he played a mere handful of games at the top level, enjoying first team action on loan at Dos Hermanas instead, before being punted to Recreativo. An unhappy spell in Huelva followed before he ended up with young upstarts Ciudad de Murcia, with whom he truly hit form.

Afterwards he was landed by Getafe, but it was only after two fine seasons there that Mallorca truly realised what they'd missed out on. With the player - tempted by an increased pay cheque, as well as Mallorca's status as a "bigger" club than Getafe - eager to return, the club managed to sign him for a relatively modest fee said to be no greater than €6m.

What a bargain that has turned out to be. Dani is fast establishing himself as one of the most natural goalscorers in Spain - his Liga tally of 17 goals is second only to that of Luis Fabiano, and unlike the Brazilian, he's not a penalty taker.

How long they can keep him is open to question, given that he's set to join up with Spain for Euro 2008, but he seems happy enough in Mallorca - for now.

1) Touré Yaya

Barcelona's best signing of the summer, and one of the top defensive midfielders on the continent today, Ivorian ace Touré Yaya gains the number two spot after a fine start to his blaugrana career. His €10m fee, in fact, is beginning to look like a massive bargain.

Despite having to marshall the defensive midfield virtually all by himself, Touré has shown some excellent damage-limitation skills since arriving from AS Monaco in summer, outshining some of the more gritty opposition sides with relative ease. Further, and unlike some of his contemporaries as Camp Nou, he offers a range of passing in addition to his defensive duties.

At the age of just 24, the blaugrana hierarchy will hope that there is yet more to come from Yaya, and that he can cement as his own a spot that the likes of Marquez and Edmilson have juggled over the past tumultuous year.

Well done to Touré Yaya, and congratulations to Barcelona. Their summer signings haven't all paid off, but in the case of the Ivorian, they have an asset to be proud of.

Inter Close In On Diarra - Report

The Mali international has been tipped to leave Madrid for quite sometime now due to his frosty relationship with Coach Bernd Schuster.

Diarra has not been featuring too heavily recently, and at the weekend he only played the last 20 minutes in the 1-1 league draw at Mallorca.

Inter have identified the signing of a top-class centre midfielder as their priority in this summer's transfer market, and coach Roberto Mancini's first-choice is Diarra.

The feeling in both Spain and Italy is that Madrid will sell Diarra in the summer, and the player’s agent Frederic Guerra has admitted that his client likes Inter.

“We will see after the match with Barcelona on May 7,” said Guerra.

“He is not happy to play so little and this is a worrying situation.

“It is true that he likes Inter but there are also two other clubs from the Premiership that like him.”

Diarra joined Madrid from Lyon in the summer of 2006 for €26m, however he has never really hit top form in the Spanish capital.

Mijatovic Meets Cristiano Ronaldo's Agent

Madrid's fixation with the Portuguese superstar rolls on as Ronaldo's Manchester United side aim to finish the job against Roma this evening.

As a prelude to that, Mijatovic arrived in Manchester on Tuesday evening to discuss with Jorge Mendes the preliminary possibilities of a transfer for the young hitman.

Mijatovic wished to know from the horse's mouth, as it were, how willing Ronaldo would be to leave Manchester in summer in favour of the Spanish capital.

However, it appears that the 23-year-old is eager to remain at Old Trafford for another season at the very least.

As he's enjoying a record-breaking season with the Red Devils, and one that will no doubt be capped off with an array of individual awards, he is in no hurry to leave.

What's more, United would no doubt reject any approach for their star player out of hand.

Nine-Figure Bid Talk

Meanwhile, Spanish TV station La Sexta claims that Real Madrid are nonetheless considering a summer offer of €125m for Cristiano.

Should this be accepted, it would be without question the highest fee ever paid for a football player, and it would exceed the reported bid of €120m from last year.

However, even if the above is true, all indications are that Manchester United would not even be tempted by such a figure for the time being as they are instead determined to hold onto their marquee player for now.

Forlán Pleased To Make Liga History

The former Villarreal striker hit Spanish goal number 68 in his side's 6-3 win over UD Almería on Sunday afternoon to outdo Jose Luis Zalazar, who managed 67 strikes over seven seasons with Albacete.

Thus Forlán enters the Spanish and Uruguayan history books, much to his delight.

He told Marca, "There are different positions, different teams and different moments.

"But I had no idea that I could achieve this record until I hit goal 67 [against Levante at the Vicente Calderón] and ever since I got there, I wanted to hit number 68.

"So, by scoring goal 68 I entered the history of the Spanish Liga. I'm very proud, because there have been some great forwards here over the years.

"It's very important, especially with all the great players from my country who have passed through Spanish football. I'm very proud."

Diego is also the holder of the EFE Trophy for the best Latin American player in Spanish football.

La Liga Week 31: Real Madrid take relief from rival’s failures

The top three all failed to win this week but Real Madrid who played badly will be the happiest with their 1-1 draw at Mallorca which leaves them seven points clear with seven games to go. Barcelona played better than in recent weeks but will be most disappointed with their 0-0 draw at home to Getafe, especially after hitting the post three times. Villarreal stay in second place on head-to-head goal difference despite losing 2-0 at Sevilla.

Real Madrid can consider themselves fortunate to escape with a point from their game at Mallorca. Three important decisions all went Madrid’s way towards the end of the first half which had the Mallorca fans waving their handkerchiefs in protest. First Aggelos Basinas was given offside when he had a clear run on goal, replays showed that he started his run from inside his own half. Shortly afterwards Sergio Ramos and Juan Fernando Arango challenged for the ball which then came out to Fernando Navarro who stroked the ball past Iker Casillas; to the crowd’s dismay the referee blew for an inexistant foul by Arango. In the 43rd minute Madrid took the lead when a great run from Arjen Robben left the Mallorca defence in a mess, Robben’s cross was touched by goalkeeper Moya but the ball went straight to Wesley Sneijder who had a simple job to put the ball home. Soon after Mallorca were again furious when the ref didn’t concede a penalty after the ball hit Cannavaro on the arm, however, this time the ref made a good decision as there was clearly no intention from the Madrid defender.

Madrid controlled things a bit better in the second half until Sergio Ramos saw his third red card of the season in the 65th minute. Arango had two good efforts in a minute and this was immediately followed by Mallorca’s equalizer. Ibagaza played the ball in to Arango who flicked it into the path of Borja Valero who burst into the area and curled a right-footer past the diving Casillas. Mallorca sensed victory and it nearly came through Dani Güiza who is normally quite lethal in front of goal, with Casillas beaten, however, Güiza’s shot hit the floor and bounced up and over off the crossbar.

Barça once again failed to take advantage of Madrid’s slip, and a mixture of bad luck and too much anxiety in their play meant they were unable to break down a hard-working Getafe defence. Barça might have scored a hatful but Eto’o, Giovani dos Santos and Xavi all hit the post and Getafe keeper ‘Pato’ Abbondanzieri made fine saves to thwart Milito and Gudjohnsen. It was all too much for the Camp Nou faithful and the supporters vented their frustration at the end with a protest against president Joan Laporta. Click here for a full report on Barça-Getafe.

Villarreal were unable to continue with their recent good form, going down 2-0 at Sevilla. The sevilla coach Manolo Jiminez changed things around by bringing in youngster David Prieto into defence and playing Fazio in midfield, he also left Kanoute on the bench which meant Sevilla played an unfamiliar 4-2-3-1 formation. The experiment paid off and deserved to take an early lead when Luis Fabiano fired home his 23rd of the season. In the dying minutes Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez brought down Navas, and Kanoute sent him the wrong way from the penalty spot.

There have been some crazy games this season at the Vicente Calderon stadium but none more so than this week’s 6-3 victory for Atletico Madrid over nine-man Almeria. Antonio Lopez got the game off to a tremendous start with a belter of a free kick after just two minutes to put the hosts in front. Two minutes later Almeria were reduced to ten men when Ruben Pulido brought down Kun Agüero when he looked like scoring, Diego Forlan made it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

Almeria, however, came back fighting and by the 17th minute they had drawn level through Felipe Melo and Jose Ortiz. Almeria then had chances to take the lead before Simao Sabrosa put Atletico back in the lead on 32 minutes, but Almeria equalized again four minutes later thanks to Alvaro Negredo. Then in the 40th minute Almeria lost Juanito to two yellow cards. With only nine men Almeria could not resist any longer and Simao got his second of the game to make it 4-3 just before the break. Two second half goals from Agüero sealed the points for Atletico who remain in 4th place in the table.

Racing Santander stay fifth despite being surprised 1-3 at home to Deportivo. Young striker Xisco scored a hat-trick last week against Murcia and this week added two more to his account, the first after just two minutes was followed by Coloccini’s effort in the 25th minute as Depor took a 0-2 lead. Jorge Lopez pulled one back for Racing, but Xisco made it 1-3 before half time. Depor’s order and concentration in the second half saw them hold on comfortably for three points which move them up to 13th in the table.

Espanyol’s miserable second half of the season continued with a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao. Athletic had the better of the first half and went in front through a Garmendia header after 13 minutes. Espanyol had the better of the second half but Tamudo missed their best oportunity, blasting a penalty over the bar with 15 minutes to go.

Despite being in the Copa del Rey final Valencia are having a terrible time in the league. This week they lost 1-0 at lowly Murcia and now find themselves down in 14th place with the threat of relegation if they don’t sort things out quickly. Ivan Alonso scored the only goal of the game in the 34th minute to give Murcia a glimmer of hope for survival. Ronald Koeman must be wondering if he will still be coach when Valencia face Getafe in the final on April 16th.

Even worse off are Zaragoza who are now looking odds-on for the drop after going down 0-3 at home to Betis. Two early goals from Mark Gonzalez left Zaragoza against the ropes and a second half goal from Pavone provided the killer punch. Betis are much improved after their early season problems and move up to tenth place.

Valladolid greatly improved their chances of staying up with a 0-3 win at bottom placed Levante. Joseba Llorente got his 14th of the season to give the visitors a 0-1 lead at half time, and two cracking second half goals from Victor and Borja sealed the victory. Levante now have no chance of saving themselves and could well be relegated next week if the fail to win at Betis.

Finally, Recreativo earned a vital victory at Osasuna to go three points clear of the relegation zone. Sinama Pongolle scored the only goal of the game in the 36th minute to give his team a 0-1 win.

Top Six: Real Madrid 66, Villarreal 59, Barcelona 59, Atletico Madrid 53, Racing Santander 50, Sevilla 48.

Bottom Six: Valladolid 38, Osasuna 37, Recreativo 36, Zaragoza 33, Murcia 29, Levante 19.

Top Scorers: Luis Fabiano 23, Güiza 17, Raul 16, Diego Milito 15 Nihat 14.

Soccer-Primera Liga reports

OSASUNA 0 RECREATIVO HUELVA 1

Osasuna were unable to turn their domination into goals and fell behind when French striker Florent Sinama Pongolle chased a long punt out of defence to score just before the break.

Although the win lifted Recre out of the drop zone both teams remain embroiled in the scramble to avoid relegation.

- - - -

REAL MALLORCA 1 REAL MADRID 1

The league leaders were up against it in Mallorca until Dutch winger Arjen Robben's low cross was pushed into the path of compatriot Wesley Sneijder who scored just before the break.

Their hold on the game was broken when defender Sergio Ramos was dismissed for a second booking in the 65th minute and soon after former Real youth team player Borja Valero curled in a spectacular equaliser.

Real were hanging on at the end as Mallorca striker Daniel Guiza hit the bar with the goal gaping.
Playing Sunday: (kickoffs 1500 GMT unless stated): Athletic Bilbao v Espanyol Atletico Madrid v Almeria Barcelona v Getafe (1900) Levante v Valladolid Racing Santander v Deportivo Coruna Real Murcia v Valencia Real Zaragoza v Real Betis Sevilla v Villarreal (1700)

La Liga Preview: Mallorca - Real Madrid

With a six point cushion in the league, Real Madrid will travel to Palma to take on Mallorca on Saturday night. The Barralets come into the match in fine form with only one loss in their last 12 league matches. Los Blancos will have revenge on their mind as Mallorca knocked them out of the King’s Cup back in January.

Historic Result

Mallorca recorded their first ever win at the Mestalla last weekend as they drubbed a disinterested Valencia side. They were led by striker Daniel Guiza who bagged a brace which sandwiched a brilliant free kick goal by central defender Ivan Ramis.

Guiza’s recent form has been very impressive as he has netted six times in Mallorca’s last five matches which has brought his league total to 17. The 27 year old Spanish international seems determined to make it impossible for Luis Aragones to overlook him for Spain’s squad for Euro 2008. If he continues to perform at this high level, the speculation will only grow that he will be moving to a bigger club in Spain, England or Italy this coming summer.

With three wins in their last four matches, Mallorca has assumed their customary mid-table spot where they sit comfortably seven points above the drop and only five points from a spot in Europe. While they lost a 4-3 thriller to Madrid at the Bernabeu in the league earlier this year, Mallorca should feel confident going into this match after knocking Los Blancos out of the King’s Cup back in January.

A Quiet Week

After a rousing victory over Sevilla last Sunday, Madrid enjoyed a very quiet week with none of the constant speculation over Bernd Schuster’s future at the club which has dominated the headlines in previous weeks. In fact, Schuster let his guard down in front of the press as he talked about this coming summer’s transfer activity for the club as well as his desire to improve his relationship with the press.

Madrid’s biggest challenge will be to maintain their focus as after last week’s results, archrival Barcelona are no longer their primary pursuers as Villarreal have leapfrogged the Blaugrana in the table. With only eight matches remaining, Los Merengues would like to pick up another three points on Saturday which will put an enormous amount of pressure on Villarreal and Barcelona going into their matches on Sunday.

FORM GUIDE

RCD Mallorca

Valencia - Mallorca 0 - 3 30/03/2008 LA LIGA
Mallorca - Deportivo 1 - 0 22/03/2008 LA LIGA
Espanyol - Mallorca 2 - 1 16/03/2008 LA LIGA
Mallorca - Recreativo 7 - 1 09/03/2008 LA LIGA
Getafe - Mallorca 3 - 3 02/03/2008 LA LIGA
Mallorca - Betis 1 - 1 24/02/2008 LA LIGA


Real Madrid

Real Madrid - Sevilla 3 - 1 30/03/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid - Valencia 2 - 3 23/03/2008 LA LIGA
Deportivo - Real Madrid 1 - 0 15/03/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid - Espanyol 2 - 1 08/03/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid - Roma 1 - 2 05/03/2008 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Recreativo - Real Madrid 2 - 3 01/03/2008 LA LIGA



TEAM NEWS


Mallorca

No major injuries or suspensions to report as defender Sergio Ballesteros returns from a two match ban. Mallorca coach, Gregorio Manzano, is expected to name an unchanged side from last week’s win over Valencia.

Possible Starting XI (4-4-2): Moya – Navarro, Nunes, Ramis, Hector – Jonas, Basinas, Ibagaza, Varela – Guiza, Arango

Madrid

Pepe is expected to return from a knock that he had received on the last international break. Other than Metzelder and van Nistleroy who are both still unavailable due to injury, Schuster should have a full squad to choose from. Given Madrid’s recent inability to score goals in away matches, I expect him to drop Marcelo at left back and go with the more defensive option in Heinze.

Possible Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas - Heinze, Cannavaro, Pepe, Ramos – Guti, Gago, Sneijder - Robben, Raul, Higuain.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Mallorca

Arango – It’s not a surprise that Mallorca’s recent run of good form has coincided with Juan Arango rediscovering his scoring touch. The Venezuelan international has scored five goals over his last five matches. While he is listed as a striker, he will drop into midfield and serve as an effective playmaker. Madrid’s defense will have to pay careful attention to him at all times.

Madrid

Raul – In what has been a very inconsistent year for Madrid, the one constant has been the high level of performance from their captain. Raul has been in very good form with six goals in his last six matches for Madrid. Stopping him will be the highest priority for Mallorca.


PREDICTION

While Madrid’s form has been very difficult to predict lately, they have won four of their last five league matches at Ono Estadi. With a chance to really put the pressure on the other title chasers, I would expect Los Blancos to collect all three points here.

Mallorca 1 – Real Madrid 2