It's Funny: Madrid Moans About Astronomical Prices

Poor old Real Madrid. It looks like they cannot afford to break the bank for the third and fourth time for David Villa and Franck Ribery because their respective clubs demand too much money for their services.

'If Barca have offered 50 million euros for Villa, plus Bojan and Caceres, I would sell if I was Valencia because we're not going to try and top that,' sporting director Jorge Valdano confirmed.

'We have been in discussions over the last week and there were disagreements. On top of money, they want a player and that was causing problems.

'What had seemed to be a deal on track instead became twisted. We don't know why the price became so high.'

Don't you? Surely it had nothing to do with Real Madrid paying world record fees twice within a week... And Valdano had even more to complain about.

'Zidane speaks highly of Ribery,' he said. 'And at one point there was interest but it's a difficult one.

'Bayern are asking astronomical figures and it's clear they do not intend to sell.'

The astronomical figure they reportedly want for Ribery is still lower than what Real will pay for Ronaldo once the deal goes through. It looks like Valdano and co. are not very skilled in economics: they made the prices go up with their exorbitant fees but now they are surprised that they are expected to pay astronomical money for their other targets as well. The market works this way, Jorge.

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