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Sports / Soccer |
Real go Dutch as they continue close season makeover(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-14 03:50 MADRID - Real Madrid continued their makeover of the championship-winning squad when they unveiled Dutch duo Wesley Sneijder and Royston Drenthe at the Bernabeu on Monday. Drenthe, 20, completed his move from Feyenoord for a reported fee of 14 million euros, while the 23-year-old Sneijder switched from Ajax after Real agreed to pay 27 million euros for the highly rated midfielder. With the addition of the two Dutchmen, Real have signed six new players at a cost of in excess of 70 million euros ($95.87 million) since coach Fabio Capello was sacked after steering the club to the league title last season. The signings of Sneijder and Drenthe will bring Real's Dutch contingent to three players, striker Ruud van Nistelrooy having joined the club last season from Manchester United. Real are also trying to sign Chelsea's Dutch winger Arjen Robben, a target ever since Ramon Calderon was elected president last year. Sneijder said that he hoped the club's Dutch colony would help the club repeat the success enjoyed by arch-rivals Barcelona when they signed a series of players from the Netherlands. "Real Madrid have now got the Dutch players and I hope they will lead the team to victory as they did at Barcelona," the midfielder told a news conference. "You'll have to ask the Real Madrid technical staff why they are signing so many Dutch players." "I'm not the right person to tell Real Madrid to buy Robben as well, but he is a great player and maybe in the future I will play with him here at Real Madrid." Sneijder's compatriot Drenthe, who can play on the left side of midfield or at fullback, was one of the outstanding players on show at the European Under-21 Championship in June, as he helped the Dutch retain their title. Real are reported to have signed him as a successor to Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos who left the club at the end of last season. The 20-year-old said he had no preferences as to his position at his new club. "I will play wherever the coach wants me to, he's the boss and I will do as he wants," he said. "As a footballer you have to be prepared for anything, as a Real Madrid player you have to put up with a great deal of pressure. Both players could make their debut for Real in the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla at the Bernabeu on Sunday. Real lost the first leg 1-0. |
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