Even though Jorge Valdano has said that the club will not be signing any more players this summer,Mourinho has insisted that a third striker is needed and I agree with him.
As I've said before, the season is long and we only have two strikers in Higuaìn and Benzema. Cristiano could still play as a striker, but that still doesn't mean we don't need an additional player to make sure we won't be short on strikers when we have injuries.
The club, however, doesn't want to make more signings and wants Mourinho to use a Castilla player which is a good option as well. The candidates are Morata and Juanlu who both play with Spain U19 and U21 respectively. They might not be fully ready for first team action, but they'll improve gradually and who knows how they would turn out to be. Giving them chances with the first team will also prove that the club isn't overlooking the academy and now it's up to Mourinho to agree.
However, the players who Mourinho reportedly wants to sign include Drogba, Dzeko and Llorente.
The first is my favorite among the three but is the hardest one to sign. The club reportedly made a £10m bid before we signed Ozil, but it was turned down by Chelsea who demanded at least double of that amount.
The others don't really impress me and I think If we are going to sign a striker it has to be world-class so it is either Drogba or someone as good as him. For this reason, I think the Castilla option would be better because there aren't many quality strikers "available" on the market.
In another news, Drenthe is seemingly very close to Benfica. In fact, Marca claims that the move could be finalized very soon and as usual there will be a buy-back clause inserted into his contract that will allow Real Madrid to buy him back during the first three years.
I think this is a good deal for all three parties involved. We don't need Drenthe, but he needs a club where he can play regularly and Benfica can be that club. Playing regularly will hopefully make him a better player and in case he improves dramatically and become a much more better player we could always have him back even though I don't think that would ever happen!
Another Dutchman who is also rumored to leave is Van der Vaart but he has confirmed that he is staying at the club and will be fighting for his spot as he did last season. There have been rumors linking him with a move to Manchester United with some talk of him flirting with the English club, but he has trashed these rumors and stated that they have been invented by the English press.
These rumors could still be true because Machsester United's interest in Rafael isn't new, but what is clear is that Mourinho still wants him (the coach has himself confirmed that publicly) otherwise Van der Vaart would be looking at other possibilities.
My stance on this is the same. I think Van der Vaart should and deserves to stay at the club because he has such a tremendous work ethic and is a team player. He is still very useful for us and he proved it last season when everyone doubted his ability to fight for a starting place and is proving it in the pre-season right now with his good performances.
So that's what is being talked about here in Madrid. There is also some talk about Gago and Diarra leaving but no offers for them yet so we'll have to wait and see what happens in the next few days.
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