This question has been in my mind for a couple of days now. Everything in the press at the moment is around those two players and I am really annoyed because most of the reports are false. Both of our players have denied any rumors linking them with another club and both of them intend to stay.

Let's first talk about Cannavaro. He came in the 2006/07 season just straight after he won the World Cup with Italy. Capello brought him and I thought and still think it was a good decision. Not only has Cannavaro added experience, solidity and strength to our defense but also spirit. He possesses exceptional anticipation and technical skills. He is undeniably one of if not the greatest defender who has ever practiced professional...

Most of our players have been called up for national duty, and yet again captain Rau'l was not included in Spain's squad even though he has been in good form recently. The debate of whether he should be called up or not will continue until he gets the call or retires, and from a Real point of view, Rau'l being left-out of Spain's squad is good for us as he'll be away from some serious action and avoids injury though in football that is not always true and a player can even get injured while just warming up.

Anyway, now to another point. Calderon, in case you didn't hear, has reportedly decided to enter the presidential race again. He says he wants to clear his name and serve the club again.

He resigned a while back after he had allegedly rigged the assembly. According to...

Rafael Van der Vaart and Christopher Metzelder have both joined the sickbay as the Dutchman has a contracture on his right hamstring muscles, while the German fractured his nose in the final minutes of the clash against Valencia and may have a surgery on Monday.

Luckily, the Christmas break may give them sometime to recover. It would be a pity if they didn't recover for the match against Villarreal because we need both of them.

There hasn't been any news on the other injured players. While Ruud and Diarra are out for the season, De La Red (who isn't actually...

AS claims that Pedja Mijatovic has lost faith in Rafael Van der Vaart and has decided to put him up for sale.

Van der Vaart made a fantastic start with Real Madrid as he scored four goals in his first three league matches, however he completely disappeared and his form dropped dramatically.

This is what AS claims. But I personally find this irritating, subjective and stupid. The reason Van der Vaart hasn't started in many matches because Schuster didn't want him to start. He always opted for the incredibly ineffective Drenthe or for Rau'l.

AS also claims that Juande Ramos doesn't also want him on the squad and the proof is when he opted for Palanca when Sneijder had to be replaced in the match against Barcelona.

Rafael came in this summer and if this is true then those folks must be crazy and stupid. How come they are still patient with players like Drenthe, Gago, Salgado...etc and not with Van der Vaart? There are other teams who wish they could have Van Der Vaart, he is a quality midfielder and selling him would be a HUGE HUGE mistake that will certainly put an end to Calderon's presidency and Mijatovic's life as a human being.

Also, I don't see anything wrong with Van der Vaart. He needs to start and he needs to play in his natural position. Again, it would be unfair if they put him for sale.

UPDATE: Van der vaart says that he doesn't know anything about this and the club hasn't talked to him about his performances.

I don't know anything about that (him being put up for sale) besides what I've read in the press. I guess I would be the first to find out. The Club would have talked to me about it. I've only been here five months and it is still too soon to reach such conclusions. No one has said anything to me about it.

France Football has announced the 30 finalists for the World Player of the Year award which will be decided in December.

Five players from Real Madrid have been chosen. Those include: Casillas, Van Nistelrooy, Van Der Vaart, Pepe and Ramos.

It seems that Real Madrid is the only team with most finalists this year. This says something ;) -

Here is the full list:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo.
Sergio Agüero (Atletico Madrid), Argentine.
Andreï Archavine (Zénith Saint-Pétersbourg), Russie.
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Allemagne.
Karim...

Letting this lad go will be Calderon's stupidest decision ever!

Morning gang,

I have got some not that good news. Well, as we have heard many times, Chelsea are interested in Robinho. The English club has made their interest public and stated on their official website that they have officially contacted Real Madrid over our wonderkid, Robinho.

Further to media reports (they are talking about me here), Chelsea Football Club can confirm we have made an offer to Real Madrid today (Thursday, August 7) for the transfer of Robinho.

UPDATE: Van Der Vaart has finally put pen on paper and signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid.

Rafael van de Vaart was accompanied by his wife and two-year old son Damián, who received a Real Madrid shirt ftrom Ramón Calderón. Also present were his parents and maternal grandparents, native residents of Chiclana, Cadiz in Southern Spain.

Sitting between Ramón Calderón and Alfredo Di Stéfano, the player inked the five-year deal with the club. He then thanked the President for making his dream of playing for Real Madrid a reality. Calderón...

Van Der Vaart and his family arrive in Madrid

Morning Madridistas,

Yesterday was a busy day, huh? Lots of news, good and bad, but today is a bit calmer. 

Our new boy has arrived. He will be officially presented as a Real Madrid player today at 13:00 CET in the Presidential Balcony of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

I have been covering his signing process for weeks, and I'm happy to finally see him here. He actually got on time, we need him so much right now as Sneijder will be out of service for three months.

Welcome aboard, Rafeal.

In the meantime, the Italian press suggest that Van Der Vaart's arrival means that

Straight from the horse's mouth: I'm joining Real Madrid. Here is what Van Der Vaart has just said on his official site:

Dear fans,

Last night everything came together, and I am now moving to Real Madrid.

As everybody might know I have always wanted to move to Spain, because I have a strong bond with that country. Now I'm going to play for Real Madrid… it's a dream comes true!

Looking back at the last couple of years, I'm extremely happy that I've had the chance to experience playing for HSV. No club, and no set of fans will treat you with more hospitality than they do! Thanks very much for that - Sylvie...

Morning,

Lets just follow Rafael Van Der Vaart's signing process. On the 25th of July, Real Madrid offered Hamburg £6m for the Dutch player. That was confirmed by the player himself on his official site:

Real Madrid have made an official bid to sign Rafael. Their offer was turned down immediately by SV Hamburg.

According to HSV, the sum offered by the Spanish club was 6 million euros, a figure which the sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer describes as unacceptable.

“This is an offer we won’t even discuss....