Real Madrid News
Real Madrid made a €45 million offer for Neymar in 2011, confirms Florentino Perez
Neymar is currently in Barcelona for a hearing over alleged fraud filed against him, his parents and former Barça presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu for corruption during his 2013 move to Camp Nou.
As part of the proceedings, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was present in the hearings via video conference. The Spaniard revealed key insights into Real Madrid’s pursuit of the player back in 2011, even confirming that the club had made an official bid for Neymar.
“Real Madrid made an offer of approximately €45 million for Neymar, but the player chose where to go and he chose Barcelona,” Perez said (h/t Mundo Deportivo) in the hearing.
The Real Madrid president went on to suggest that he had no deep knowledge of the negotiations back then and the fact that Real Madrid were not very active in the transfer saga.
“We were interested, I think like 10 years ago, that’s how the Real Madrid sports management told me, although I didn’t talk to him about it. I had no knowledge,” he said.
Perez also said he had no knowledge of DIS having any rights over Neymar’s transfers. indicating that Real Madrid had made no efforts to gain knowledge of the player’s internal contract.
“I don’t know or remember if DIS had rights over Neymar. I remember that they sent us a letter. I don’t remember having met or having conversations with Juan Figer. It doesn’t sound like anything to me. We have provided all the documentation to the summary,” he said.
DIS is a Brazilian investment company, who are the one to lodge a complaint against Neymar and the former Barcelona presidents for the alleged corruption in the transfer.
The company had owned 40% of the player’s transfer rights, but they allege that Neymar and Santos worked together to transact money through other means, without the knowledge of DIS.
Real Madrid News
Rayo Vallecano manager names the one Real Madrid figure he would remove from the team
Rayo Vallecano face a daunting trip to the Santiago Bernabeu to take on a wounded Real Madrid this weekend.
Life after Inigo Perez has not been kind to the Vallecas-based club, who have already had to travel to Camp Nou and now face a trip to the home of their city giants.
Speaking ahead of the game (h/t Madrid Xtra), Rayo Vallecano manager Benat San Jose was asked which Real Madrid player he would like to remove from the team before this weekend’s game.
Surprisingly, his choice was not Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior or Thibaut Courtois.
“Mourinho”
Asked which Madrid player he would take out of the upcoming contest, Benat jokingly chose the man sitting on the opposition bench.
“Which Real Madrid player I’d remove from the match against them? Mourinho,” Benat said with a laugh.
The answer might have been delivered jokingly, but the Rayo coach immediately made clear just how highly he rates the Portuguese manager.
“He’s one of the best managers in history,” he added.
It is significant praise ahead of Saturday’s meeting at the Bernabeu.
Madrid’s squad contains enough individual quality to give any opposition coach several obvious answers, but Benat instead highlighted the influence Mourinho can have over the entire team.
That has become particularly relevant since the Portuguese coach returned to Madrid. His early work has focused on making a talented group function with greater collective discipline.
Courtois and Madrid’s attack also praised
Benat did not stop with the manager.
“They also have one of the best GKs in history and one of the best attackers in history,” he said.
Benat will definitely have seen how Thibaut Courtois played against Inter Milan in midweek and will hope that version does not turn up again this weekend.
Even when teams manage to create opportunities against Madrid, they still have to beat one of the defining goalkeepers of his generation.
At the opposite end, Madrid possess attacking quality capable of turning a match on its head.
The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham can all decide matches single-handedly.
Madrid have a point to prove
Madrid are coming off a disappointing loss to Real Betis in La Liga last weekend and will come into this game with a point to prove.
They will want to ensure that the loss to the Andalusian club was a one-off and that they return to winning ways against Rayo.
Their title rivals, Barça, have been flying high in the league, scoring goals and picking opponents apart for fun.
Madrid need to ensure that they do not hand too much early incentive to Barça, and it remains to be seen how Los Blancos fare against Rayo Vallecano.
