The Spanish champions were unsuccessful in their attempts to lure Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Valencia striker David Villa and Villarreal winger Santi Cazorla to the Bernabeu during the close season.

On the final day of the transfer window, they reluctantly sold Brazil forward Robinho to Manchester City after the player insisted he wanted to leave, prompting criticism from local media that the squad was short on quality for the new campaign.

“We can function very well without Cristiano Ronaldo or David Villa. The first year I was here we did well without Kaka (a player president Ramon Calderon had promised to buy) and we won two leagues without him,” Mijatovic told Real Madrid television.

“We had conversations with Manchester United and they didn’t want to let Cristiano Ronaldo go. We made an offer for David Villa but did not want to pay what Valencia asked for him.”

Real have strengthened their squad with the signing of Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, the recall of two former youth team players from loan spells with other Primera Liga clubs, Javi Garcia and Ruben de la Red, and Argentina defender Ezequiel Garay.

The 21-year-old Garay is to play on loan with Racing Santander this season.

“Although it may seem like we have not signed anyone we have landed four players you can rely on,” he added.

“We have a squad of 24 and this is ample. We do not plan to make any signings in the winter transfer window, although you never know what may happen in football."

“We have a competitive team, capable of competing at a national level and in the Champions League, and we should not be worried.”

Mijatovic added that Real were not concerned their power in the transfer market would wane due to the arrival of major investors in world football, such as the Abu Dhabi-based company that bought Manchester City.

“I am not worried because great football players want to achieve genuine success and if they want to chose between a good contract and playing for Real Madrid, I don’t think they will hesitate in their decision,” Mijatovic said.

Despite a nice influx of cash on the last day of the summer transfer market, Real Madrid sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic has ruled out any possible signings in the January transfer window.

Real Madrid had a traumatic summer in the transfer market by their standards. They failed to sign any of their major targets, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa and Santi Cazorla, and they also lost their prized asset, Robinho.

But boosted by the cash from the sale of the Brazilian to Manchester City on the last day of the shopping window, Madrid were expected to open their cheque books come Christmas time for the January trade period and numerous names have even been linked with a move to the Spanish capital, including Lukas Podolski and more recently, Aaron Lennon.

The club’s sports director Predrag Mijatovic, however, has now revealed in an interview with RealMadrid TV that the reining La Liga champions will not be looking to bring in any new faces during the mid-season break.

“Real Madrid will not make any signings in the winter transfer market,” was his blunt reply when asked by the interviewer.

“We have a group of 24 players and at this stage, we do not have the intentions of recruiting any new players, although in football, you never know,” he explained further.

Mijatovic was then asked to access the club’s failed summer transfer activities, starting with David Villa.

“We made an offer for him, one which we considered sufficient, but his club Valencia made a counter-offer which made it impossible for us to negotiate. We were not about to go mad for him."

“As for Cazorla, I was specifically ordered by the president not to be forced to pay his buy-out clause because Real Madrid are great not just because of our achievements but also because of our control and authority."

“And for Cristiano Ronaldo, it was obvious that we wanted to sign him but Manchester United opposed strongly to his sale,” Mijatovic detailed.

Finally, the Montenegrin reiterated that there is no tension between the coach, Bernd Schuster and himself.

“My relation with Schuster is excellent. We are both top people in charge of our own duties and we speak daily about everything that’s on our agenda,” he assured.

Real Madrid coach, Bernd Schuster could see his fears of a striker shortage start to emerge this weekend as Raúl appears set to be ruled out.

Marca has reported that the Los Blancos captain has not set foot on a football field for training in the last eight days, choosing instead to remain in the gym to focus on a muscle toning exercise regime.

Although his condition and match fitness levels are unknown at this stage, the idea is for the 31 year old to be 100% fit and ready for the midweek Champions League opener against BATE Borisov and as such, Schuster could take decision to rest the ‘Number 7’.

This is exactly what the German trainer had feared all summer long and the club’s failure to bring in his requested back-up striker could be exposed early on in the season, even if it is just for one game.

Madrid do have Argentines, Gonzalo Higuaín and Javier Saviola as cover – and the former will be favourites to start – but it remains to be seen how Schuster will tweak his strategy and formation to accommodate Raúl’s likely absence.

Real Madrid have named six Castilla youngsters in their Champions League squad.

Felipe Ramos, Antonio Adan, Javier Velayos, David Mateos, Pedro Mosquera and Alberto Bueno have all been registered by Real for this season's campaign due to a change in the homegrown laws made by UEFA.

276 players have played at least one match defending the colours of Real Madrid CF.

Raul came first with 114 matches and 61 goals

Roberto Carlos came second with 109 matches and 16 goals

Hierro came third with 101 matches and 16 goals
Here is the  list of the top 40:
The full list with all the stat is avalaible on demand. (leave a comment)
 

  1. * RAÚL              (Raúl González Blanco)                   

  2.   ROBERTO CARLOS    (Roberto Carlos da Silva Garca)           

  3.   HIERRO            (Fernando Ruiz Hierro)                    

  4.   SANCHÍS           (Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo)               

  5.   GENTO             (Francisco Gento López)                   

  6.   CAMACHO           (José Antonio Camacho Alfaro)             

  7. * CASILLAS          (Iker Casillas Fernández)                 

  8.   MÍCHEL            (José Miguel González Martín del Campo)   

  9.   SANTILLANA        (Carlos Alonso González)                  

 10.   IVÁN HELGUERA     (Iván Helguera Bujía)                     

 11. * GUTI              (José María Gutiérrez Hernández)          

 12. * MÍCHEL SALGADO    (Miguel Ángel Salgado Fernández)          

 13.   PIRRI             (José Martínez Sánchez)                   

 14.   BUTRAGUEÑO        (Emilio Butragueño Santos)                

 15.   CHENDO            (Miguel Porlán Noguera)                   

 16.   AMANCIO           (Amancio Amaro Varela)                    

 17.   ZOCO              (Ignacio Zoco Esparza)                    

 18.   GALLEGO           (Ricardo Gallego Redondo)                 

 19.   FIGO              (Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro)              

 20.   MORIENTES         (Fernando Morientes Sánchez)              

 21.   BUYO              (Francisco Buyo Sánchez)                  

 22.   DI STÉFANO        (Alfredo di Stéfano Laulhe)               

 23.   BENITO            (Gregorio Benito Rubio)                   

 24.   VELÁZQUEZ         (Manuel Velázquez Villaverde)             

 25.   JUANITO           (Juan Gómez González)                     

26.   SANTAMARÍA        (José Emilio Santamaría Iglesias)         

 27.   SOLARI            (Santiago Hernán Solari)                  

 28.   ZIDANE            (Zinedine Zidane)                        

29.   MIGUEL ÁNGEL      (Miguel Ángel González)    
 30.   GORDILLO          (Rafael Gordillo Vázquez)                 
 31.   GROSSO            (Ramón Moreno Grosso)                     
 32.   MARTÍN VÁZQUEZ    (Rafael Martín Vázquez)                   
 33.   McMANAMAN         (Steve McManaman)                       
 34.   DEL BOSQUE        (Vicente del Bosque González)            
 35.   STIELIKE          (Ulrich Stielike)                    
 36.   REDONDO           (Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri)           
 37.   PUSKÁS            (Férenc Puskás Biró)                     
 38.   HUGO SÁNCHEZ      (Hugo Sánchez Márquez)                   
 39.   MAKELELE          (Claude Makelele)              
 40.   ÁNGEL             (Ángel de los Santos Cano) 

Robinho told Ramón Calderón that he would rather become a travelling salesman than continue to play for Real Madrid in a bid to force through a transfer, according to the player's agent. The Brazilian's unhappiness at the Bernabéu was no secret, yet it was expected that after pushing through his departure, which ended in a surprising switch to Manchester City, that things would go quiet. But Vagner Ribeiro has continued revealing things by stating that Robinho told Caldéron clearly that he had no intention of staying and that was the start of the whole saga. "The key was the meeting with the president. Caldéron told Robinho that he would not leave the club under any circumstances," he told Joven Pan. " Robinho replied by telling him 'I do not want to stay, I would prefer to become a travelling salesman than remain here." "From then on, and with all the rumours and reports created by the press, everyone turned against him." On the subject of rumours, he continued, "It was put about that Robinho was going to be a Chelsea player, so we celebrated that. When the press asked us about Manchester City, I said it wasn't happening." "But at 10:45 in the evening they asked if he was going to City, and I said that he'd be going anywhere except Real Madrid. So Chelsea's Peter Kenyon was frantically calling me desperately trying to figure out what was going on." "By that point, though, I knew that Chelsea and Real Madrid would never agree on a fee greater than €40million, so I gave permission to City to proceed." There have been claims and counter-claims from both sides about why Robinho did not sign a new contract and the way that he was treated and Ribeiro could not stay quiet. Robinho has yet to train with his new team-mates in England after signing only hours before being due in Brazil for the World Cup qualifiers.

Reports mentioned that Real madrid are interested in germen striker Podolski. ''MARCA'' mentioned on saturday that Bernd schuster is pist off,and asking for a new forward in the winter.

Lukas is unsetteled in Munich,and he`s looking for a new club.Podolski was voted the best young player in the latest world cup in germany (2006).

Podolski was aiming a regular spot in the Bayern squad,but he isnt in Klinsman tactics.Lukas (23) was a key for germany back in 06 under coach Klinsman.

Koln FC. the new promoted club is hunting the young german too. 

Real Madrid’s Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder could make his comeback from injury as early as October as his recovery appears to be well ahead of schedule.

Sneijder damaged his interior cruciate knee ligament against Arsenal in the Emirates Cup almost exactly five weeks ago in preseason and the initial assessment was that he will be ruled out for the remainder of 2008.

But according to Real Madrid’s astonished medical team, they are now predicting that the Oranje playmaker could return in three to four weeks’ time, if he can maintain his current rehabilitation rate.

The midfielder has spent the last ten days in the gym but his injured left knee is already almost as strong as his right and by next week, he should be able to resume normal training on the field.
His remarkable persistence and work ethic has been key to the speedy recovery. Working double sessions almost everyday, Sneijder has said during rehabilitation that “there is no way I will be out for three months”.

If all goes to plan, Schuster should be able to recall the 24 year old for the game against Espanyol on the 5^th of October, although the club doctors will be cautious not to rush him back too soon.