Change of Soccer Uniforms for 2 of the top players

It's finally official. Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazilian Kaka are to don the Real Madrid soccer shirt for a whopping 200 million dollars! With the return of Florentino Perez as Real Madrid's president it was just a matter of time before big monies exchanged hands to sign up the world's most marketable soccer stars. This is all with a view to bring back Real's glory days by becoming champions in Spain and Europe once again...

Perez hopes to repeat his earlier success of building a formidable Real team comprising of soccer greats such as Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham. The beginning of 2000 saw this man go on a shopping spree that ended with these four stars in Madrid's bag for a cost of £132 million.

It seems Real paid AC Milan $94.90 million for Kaka, while Ronaldo was bought from Manchester United for $131.2 million, finally bringing to an end to months of speculation. Kaka seemed to be a 'reluctant hero' though, with his heart still set on his club AC Milan. But with the reality of global recession and the realization that at the end of the day clubs are businesses, he agreed to the move. It's his way of helping Milan get over its financial crisis. The 27 year old Brazilian went through a medical check up at the Brazilian national team's training camp in Recife and with that transfer was complete. Speaking at a press conference, Kaka clarified: "I can officially say I'm a Real Madrid player. My professional link with AC Milan finishes now, but my sentimental link will never end."

But you'll have to wait until the end of June to see Kaka in the famous Real Madrid soccer uniform since he has to fulfill his duty towards national team Brazil, who are all set to play in South Africa for the Confederations Cup. Whether he wears the famous number five soccer jersey is not clear. Though Perez would like him to wear the soccer shirt, Kaka has expressed his reservations. The Brazilian star felt: "Wearing the number five would be a great responsibility. Zidane was a great player, both for Real Madrid and for France, and I wouldn't like to wear the same number as he did."

Another record breaking deal saw Man U forward Ronaldo move to Real for a whopping $131.2million! In this case, it seems Ronaldo was keen to join Real since he had always dreamt of playing for the club as a young boy. After much denial, Manchester United released an official statement saying that they have received an offer to sell Ronaldo to Real for a price of £80 million. This makes it the highest price ever paid for a player in the history of football!

Ronaldo's leaving Man U means the celebrated number 7 soccer jersey, worn by soccer greats like George Best, Eric Cantona David Beckham, will now become available. And coach Sir Alex Ferguson will be left with the formidable to find a player worthy of its ancestry...

Now that Ronaldo and Kaka have been won over, rumors are flying thick that Franck Ribéry is next on Perez's much talked about shopping list...

by Giorgio Pirelli

AC Milan Coach Leonardo In No Hurry To Sign New Players

AC Milan coach Leonardo does not want to think about tactics for the time being, as he wants to see the players the club will sign and the full squad he will have available to him.

There is still a lot of time according to Leonardo, therefore things should be taken at a slow pace at the moment.

"We must understand not only the system, but the tactics with which we will play, but also see how the players will get used to the idea we have and we must still wait," explained the new Rossoneri's coach to Sky Sport 24.

"I think that Pato is more of an attacker than Kaka, even though at times it is wrong to define a player in one way or another. Still, I think that he is more of a forward; it all depends on the way we will play.

"There is a transfer market which is open until August 31. We are evaluating the possibilities and in the end, when we will know who the players we will have are, we shall define the way we play."

This will be Leonardo's first experience as a coach and the Rossoneri fans will be hoping that he follows in the footsteps of Fabio Capello who went through the same path almost 20 years ago.

Glenn Debattista, Goal.com

Fantasy Soccer - Summer Transfer Window - Part 3

The summer transfer window is poised to bring big changes and an overwhelming amount of speculation just like it does every year. Below is the third installment of a series of articles that examines the speculation and the fantasy relevance of each possible move.

Fernando Torres - Liverpool : Fernando Torres is one of the most elite strikers in the world and is a constant scoring threat for Liverpool in the Premier League. Torres has put up big scoring numbers and has orchestrated chances and goals where most could not. Liverpool is determined to hang on to their young Spanish striker but his success has caused wealthy clubs to lineup enormous bids for Torres. Liverpool should retain Torres for there are very few players of his caliber in the world and losing him would be a near irreplaceable blow to their attack.

Where He Will End Up: He likely will remain in Liverpool despite the efforts to pry him away. Manchester City is reportedly lining up an enormous bid of 50 million Euros to snatch Torres away but it still seems unlikely he will leave the Reds. Torres is happy at Liverpool and has made an immediate impact upon switching leagues which is something that few players have been able to do. Manchester City will try their best, but I believe they will ultimately fail in bringing Torres over.

Didier Drogba - Chelsea: As mentioned in a previous installment of this series, Drogba appears to be headed out of the Chelsea ranks. It had been believed Drogba might have left mid-season amongst the speculation he was unhappy at Stamford Bridge. However, he remained yet the rumors of his departure remain and have intensified as the year wore on. Drogba is being sought by a handful of teams that are all desperate to find a lethal physical striker such as Drogba.

Where He Will End Up: Too early to say where he will land, but it is clear he will be leaving Chelsea at this point. Manchester City is keen to bring him over to strengthen their attack and have plenty of financial resources to sweeten the deal. Other teams including the Italian sides AC Milan and Inter Milan also have Drogba on their wish list in hopes to help their chances in their respective league and in the Champions League tournament. Likely this will come down to who is willing to pay/offer more and Manchester City holds the advantage there. Expect Manchester City to land a large collection of players in the off season and be wary of how this will impact all of those switching sides and their fantasy value.

By David L. Rogers