Juventus Directors In Madrid For Drenthe

[Trim]

Real Madrid's chase of Feyenoord youngster Royston Drenthe is finally over, with the two clubs shaking hands over 14 million euros according to reports in Spain.

Royston Drenthe has had clubs such as Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona looking at him ever since he exploded onto the scene during the European under-21 Championships earlier this summer.

It was the Merengue club who followed up on their interest with a concrete offer, but like with many other players this summer, ran into heavy weather.

Feyenoord were not keen to let the youngster go, and decided put an 18 million euro price tag on him for prospective buyers, one Real Madrid felt was a few millions too far many.

An upset Drenthe then decided to have his contract examined by lawyers, and just when it seemed like another court ruling might be required, an agreement has been reached.

Marca are reporting that Feyenoord have accepted a 14 million euro bid from Real Madrid, and given the player the green light to move to the Bernabeu.

AS have confirmed the reports, but insist that the transfer fee is 13 million euros. Drenthe will complete his medical this week itself, before putting pen to paper on a five year deal.

He is being touted by many in and around the club, and particularly the media, as Roberto Carlos' successor.

However, it remains to be seen if that is where he will play, as he has always produced his best in a midfield role, and prefers to remain in the final third of the pitch.

He was accordingly given a rather free role in the Dutch under-21 team, coming in from the left and the right. There results were there to see.

Goal.com - Real Madrid - Real Madrid Strike 14m Drenthe Deal

[Pat Murphy]

That's about £9.3m which is an awful lot of money. Originally Madrid were in for 6million Euros (£4m) which would have been decent but the price has inflated a lot since then.

There were also reports that Drenthe didn't want to move to Real because they planned on playing him as LB while he thinks his best position is LM. If his best positioning is attacking then what will his defending be like?

[barracuda]

His defending can't be worse than R.Carlos, so if it's his heir they are looking for, that could work. The question I guess is if he can attack anywhere close to as good as Carlos...

[Sven]

Thank god, because I didn't want him at Chelsea.

[Pennywise]

Originally Posted by Pat Murphy

That's about £9.3m which is an awful lot of money. Originally Madrid were in for 6million Euros (£4m) which would have been decent but the price has inflated a lot since then.

There were also reports that Drenthe didn't want to move to Real because they planned on playing him as LB while he thinks his best position is LM. If his best positioning is attacking then what will his defending be like?

Hehe, its always different "reports" from A to Z. I prefer the officially quotes.

I don't think Drenthe had went to Real Madrid if he wouldn't play LF, because I think he'll end up there....if Robben will arrive...and I don't think he's defending is that bad either. Hopefully he'll develop as player and most important thing is that he will be a equal player as Carlos. Madrid won plenty under this kind of style and play.

The price is of course much for a player, but when Michael Chopra goes for £5 mill, Owen Hargreves for £17 mill....and what the market has went crazy.....is £9.3 mill for a very great talent much? Nope. He has been linked with many of the biggest clubs in Europe and if he had not been sold either if he not had asked the board that he wanted to play for Real Madrid.

[Robinho4Ever]

I'm glad this story is over

[hk_on99]

Thank god, because I didn't want him at Chelsea.

It's nice to know that we severely inflated the price for a player who isn't that great.

[unitedfan]

Originally Posted by Sven

Thank god, because I didn't want him at Chelsea.

You seemed fairly hopeful here:

Originally Posted by Sven

Robben is gonna stay with Drenthe joining us.

Originally Posted by Sven

It's Real or Us, If it means keeping Robben, they can have Drenthe, good player though, great left foot.

£9m isn't a bad price to pay, not for a rising young player clearly loaded with talent. I just hope they don't think he's the solution at LB, because he's worse defensively than Carlos ( ) and he normally plays in a left forward position, or in a free role off the left, so it's a fairly alien position to him, at least at senior level.

[Sven]

Ye me trying to be hopefull, that's all he is, a power house with good left foot, he's not in same league as Robben LM or Bridge/Cole at lb, all the hype came after a ok performence at under 21 cup(ok because everyone else was rubbish).

I hoped Jose wouldn't want him after one tourniment. But Real did.

[kyan]

Drenthe's U21 performance wasn't OK, it was fantastic... just because everyone else played crap doesn't mean his performance was only showed to be good because of that. His crossing and dribbling was phenomenal as well as his pace and strength.

Of course a signing shouldn't really be based on 1 good tournament but he's shown he's got potential... and these days u have to pay a lot for potential so they got a great deal.

Look at what Chelsea had to pay for Mikel, what United had to pay for Andesron & Nani, what Liverpool had to pay for Babel...

[Sven]

I think price is resonable, even if Chel;sea were interested, he just signed a new 4 year contract, it was gonna cost around 10.

He was best player there, I don't think fantastic though, bit flaterring, ok he was good (better then ok)

[Oliver_Kahn]

I think Real made a great signing, if they are thinking about playing in on the wings. This guy is really fast, great technique, good dribble, good passing and crossing. For 14m € it was a good deal.

But, if Schuster is planning to play him as LB, then he made a huge mistake. This guy seriously can't tackle. Goes forward a lot which would make huge holes on the left side on counter attacks, since Madrid will only play with 1 DM, so he won't be able to cover for Drenthe. Also, he loses his cool very often, when he faces a smart opponent, that opponent can get Drenthe to be sent off quite easily. During the Roterdam tournament, he got involved with Porto's Fucile and against Liverpool he got involved with Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso; got booked on both matches.

With that being said, if he plays LM he'll be class, if he plays LB he'll make Real's defence even worse.

[Pennywise]

Drenthe was around £5 mill more expensive than Michael Chopra. £10 mill cheaper than Owen Hargreaves.

You can see that he is very talented, even he may played in a lower league than La Liga and EPL.

He has a great tug and he'll be a very exciting player to follow.

Todays market prices, Madrid got a very good price for him.

[Sven]

I heard 14€ million which is around 9/10 million £

[Pennywise]

Chopra coast £5 mill and Drenthe around £9-10 mill, then around £5 mill more expensive than Sunderlands matchwinner today