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Cristiano Ronaldo Questions Real Madrid’s Summer Transfers

By Tucker Maggio-Hucek

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Surprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo forgot his prominence in the soccer world.

After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad on Sunday, the Portuguese superstar made some very interesting comments to the press that has stirred up quite a commotion in Madrid.  Spanish Football correspondent for ESPN, Dermot Corrigan, tweeted out this quote from the 2014 Balon d’Or winner.

Clearly Real Madrid’s most influential and talented player has a few qualms with his club’s offseason moves.  He even hinted that he had more to say on the subject but wanted to refrain from making headlines.

Well, it is a little to late for that Cristiano.  But does Ronaldo’s anguish with the club’s recent transfer moves have some validity? Absolutely.

The 4-2 loss on Sunday highlighted some pretty clear holes in the team from the Spanish Capital.  Entering the summer of 2014 Madrid had defeated the world’s best clubs on the way to being crowned winners of the Champions League.  They boasted one of the greatest attacking lineups in the world, which featured the world beater Gareth Bale, an in form Kareem Benzema, Ronaldo and the Argentinian catalyst Angel DiMaria.  Their attack was well rounded and dangerous.  Surely they would look to add some depth to their defensive midfield and back line during the summer.

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Instead, President Florentino opened up his checkbook and wrote and enormous check out to Monaco for the services of the Colombian attacker who was the most talked about sports figure of the summer.  James Rodriguez was simply stunning during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and captured the attention of the world with his beautiful goals and attacking wizardry.  Clearly Florentino, and quite frankly anyone with a business oriented mind, could see that he was the key to unlocking the attention and fascination of the nation of Colombia.  So, the 80 million euros were spent and the money from jersey sales began to pour in as the nation of Colombia slowly became Real Madrid fans.  But spending that much money on a young player from the French League, who was good, not great at Monaco represented some major risks.  Firstly, Rodriguez had to play no matter what.

DiMaria had to sense that he was being pushed to the fringe by Real Madrid’s board.  Rodriguez’s transfer was preceded by the signing of yet another attacking minded midfielder.  Toni Kroos of Bayern Munich and the world champions Germany was a great signing but only pushed DiMaria and other core midfielders out of the picture.  With the departure of both DiMaria and Xabi Alonso this summer, Real Madrid have replaced established stalwarts with new signings.  DiMaria was an essential player during Madrid’s phenomenal run at the end of last season.  His game changing speed and technical skills gave opponents fits as they could not matchup with all of the talent Madrid boasted.  The Argentinian was arguably their most influential player at times and will be sorely missed.

It was evident on Sunday that Madrid’s defense has major holes that need to be fixed.  Midfielder Sami Khedira sat on the bench as his attacking minded counterparts left acres of space between the back four and the midfield.  Khedira, who is an excellent defensive midfielder, will likely find it hard to come by time on the pitch this year as the new signings get their playing time.  As James and Kroos continue to try to find their rhythm in Spain it will be interesting to see how this whole scenario plays out. Obviously Real Madrid is still an excellent team full of quality, but Ronaldo does not like what he has seen so far from the Real Madrid board and that should worry some people.

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