No deal over Alonso
Real Madrid's director general, Jorge Valdano, has said his club will not meet Liverpool's asking price for Xabi Alonso and will consider alternative targets should the hardball stance of Rafael Benítez continue.
Real Madrid's director general, Jorge Valdano, has said his club will not meet Liverpool's asking price for Xabi Alonso and will consider alternative targets should the hardball stance of Rafael Benítez continue.
The Liverpool manager has placed a valuation of around £35m on the player he tried to sell for £18m last summer, leading to an impasse that Alonso is anxious to resolve before his scheduled return to pre-season training at Anfield on July 19.
"Xabi Alonso is a priority if he fits into our budget, and this doesn't seem the case. We are very far from the figures that Liverpool have set out,” Valdano said. He also said Karim Benzema's arrival from Lyon had ended Real's pursuit of the Valencia forward David Villa.
Real give up on Ribery move
Real Madrid have resigned themselves to the fact that they will not be able to recruit French international Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich this season due to the German club's intransigence, Valdano said.
“We have the feeling that Ribery will not quit Bayern this season,” he told radio Marca late on Tuesday.