Quantcast
View from the Kop

Why Real’s Legendary Striker should not be welcome at Anfield

|

raulAs Spain and Real Madrid’s all time top goalscorer, you would expect Raul to be on the wish list of many major European club’s this summer as he is set to end his lifelong association with the Spanish club. It is not the case however, as the striker is said to be listening to offers from the United States and the Middle East. Now come rumours of interest from Liverpool. Although the speculation doesn’t come from Marca, the reputable newspaper for all inside knowledge on Madrid (it comes from the ‘Sport’ newspaper in Madrid), Rafa Benitez did not deny in his press conference today that he was interested in the striker.

So what has made Raul’s move away from his boyhood club a certainty this summer? The 32 year old has fallen out of favour in the Madrid team this year and has fallen behind Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in the running for a starting place. He has become far more a peripheral figure under head coach Manuel Pellegrini this season and in all likelihood he will be moving on to another club. Raul and his agent Gines Carvajal have been looking around the world for one final swansong and a final pay packet for the player before he retires. A number of MLS teams have been looking at the striker, including David Beckham’s LA Galaxy, but the attraction of a two year deal, playing at the top level in the Premier League with Liverpool could be an offer he couldn’t refuse. According to the ‘Sport,’ Benitez has asked the long-serving Real Madrid captain to move to Anfield in a deal that could suit all parties. There is a stumbling block to any such transfer in that Real Madrid may want a fee for the 32 year old. Benitez is a keen admirer of the striker from his days at Valencia and could see Raul as a good free transfer to bulk up numbers up front, however Real surely wouldn’t want their all time record goalscorer going to a European rival. On top of this, the “contract for life” which Raul signed back in 2008 entails that if Raul plays over 30 games for Real in a season, Raul is entitled for his contract to be renewed. He has appeared 27 times already this season and will almost certainly play over 30 before the season is out. It is a small problem and one that could be easily resolved though.

So what’s the catch? For me it is a big one and one that should scupper any move for the legendary striker. The problem is two fold: both on and off the pitch. At 32 years of age, Raul shouldn’t be coming to the end of his career and he has never been a player who relies on his pace; natural goalscoring ability is his real talent. Desire and motivation are the real question marks over Raul and if he doesn’t come to the Premier League fully committed, he will fail miserably due to the physicality of English football. If he comes here for the money, he won’t last more than six months.

The other issue is his influence off the pitch. One of the main reasons, other than Higuain and Ronaldo, as to why Raul finds himself out of Madrid’s first team eleven is his overbearing influence over the entire team. As Club captain, he had a direct line of communication with Florentino Perez during his first stint as President during the Galactico years and if managers didn’t have his confidence, they would generally be out of the club. He became more powerful than the manager at points and he became a destabilising influence inside the dressing room which has led Pellegrini to isolate him this season to prevent his own authority being undermined. The Chilean manager has been allowed to do this because of Raul’s own poor form, Managing Director Jorge Valdano’s own faith in Pellegrini and Perez’s own interest in ensuring that both two expensive signings in Benzema and Ronaldo succeed. Of course Raul would not have the same amount of power if he moved to Anfield, but if he has to settle for a place on the bench, there is every possibility that Raul could become restless. One of the main reasons Raul would move to Liverpool is the amount of Spanish speaking players at the club and due to Raul’s own high reputation, there is no doubt he could unsettle others in the team. Benitez has taken a risk on older players before, such as Robbie Fowler, but in that case it was a legendary player returning to a team he loved, rather than a legendary player moving to a club who he has had no prior association with for one last hurrah..

Share this article

6 comments

  • T says:

    Washed up talent thats free!?!
    And they rarely work out for us.
    For example Voronin.

  • samuel charles says:

    great post, raul although i like him for what he has done, and for what he is as a person, i dont want him at the club.

    He is to old, he is slower the morientes was and is not the type of investment that we are seeking, we have to push forward with either top quality youngster and or top quality proven talent who are not yet coming to the end of their careers.

    i have said this before, we need to get investment and i mean 60 million pounds and the players to go to buying 4 players who can come in and shake up the team,

    im a dreaming at the moment because the dear old great club are having to fight off the pitch with the yankie con men owners.

    david silva juan mata and turan and cissokho should be brought to the club, why not we are liverpool not west ham! get investment and keep rafa and you watch us beat every team in sight

    reina
    johnson carragher agger cissokho
    mata mascherano gerrard turan
    villa torres

    now thats a team

  • Chris says:

    Don’t want to sound like a WUM but the statement that Real wouldn’t want to sell to one of their ‘European rivals’ is sounding depressingly optimistic at the moment

  • FAT HEAD says:

    I AGREE WITH SAMUEL CHARLES THAT CISSOKHO AND TURAN WOULD BE A GOOD SIGNINGS BUT YOUR LIVING IN DREAM LAND IF YOU THINK THEY CAN SIGN THE REST

  • samuel charles says:

    sell; reira aquilani, plessies, darby, spearing, degen, itandge, nemeth, cavelerli, aurelio- out of contract, el zhar, that lot would get back im and close to 3o mill add that to jan’s player sales of voronin and dossena. that was nearly 7 million, then we could have( if these con men let rafa spend any!) close to 40 mill with the departure of san jose who wants to go back to spain with athletico bilibao looking at he has a clause in his contract saying we must get a bid of over 3.5 million. thats 40 mill,

    go and buy david villa, and all this without spending a penny, then the whole world and club turn round to these american bastar*** and give them hell, they should at least be able to give the club 25 million to spend, but then again, these are fraud of human beings.

    YANKS OUT, WHAT DO WE WANT’ YANKS OUT,, NOW YANKS OUT ,,,,

  • lfc dude says:

    samuel charles you are stupid! your saying we should sell 10-15 players just so we can buy 1 player in David Villa? and what if David Villa gets injured for the season? then we are 16 players down and who will fill in for injuries? i suppose Aldo and Thommo could fill in.. ya its definately worth it to get Villa lol

Comments are closed.