More quantity than quality - Altintop, Callejon & Sahin will not help Real Madrid catch Barcelona

Madrid have already been active in the transfer market but their signings fail to offer intention that Barca can be toppled in 2011-12

Jun 2, 2011 9:00:00 AM

The dust has barely settled on the 2010-11 season, but already an indication of what is to come is being provided by Real Madrid. 

La Liga and the Champions League may once again be nestling in the burgeoning trophy cabinet of rivals Barcelona, but Jose Mourinho's side offered a considerable test to the team currently being lavished with unparalleled global praise after their thumping win over Manchester United at Wembley. And already, the Portuguese is laying the foundations for a fresh assault on Catalan superiority.

Step one, of course, was to resolve his embittered feud with general director Jorge Valdano. Swiftly and ruthlessly, the Argentine was dismissed into the sunset, freeing up space inside the annals of the Bernabeu for Mourinho to flex his managerial muscle further.

We have also witnessed pro-active transfer activity. Nuri Sahin, the Turkish midfielder and stalwart of Borussia Dortmund's Bundesliga-winning campaign, was first to sign on for next season. Soon after, utility man Hamit Altintop arrived on a Bosman after his Bayern Munich contract expired. Finally, Jose Callejon and Espanyol announced that the winger would be returning to the club where he was formerly a trainee on July 1.

Swift business, yes. But necessary business? Questionable. All three signings represent additional options for Mourinho, but none of whom are expected to immediately enjoy a starting slot. Indeed, it could be argued that the position in which the capital club are most affluent is in the midfield area, even before the arrival of Messrs Sahin, Altintop and Callejon. 

Their names join an already competitive squad, one where talents such as Kaka, Fernando Gago, Esteban Granero and Pedro Leon were on the perihphery of the action for much of the campaign. There are varying reasons for that quartets' limited use, whether it be injury, loss of form, or disagreement with the coach, but they represent over €100 million worth of player - and three more names have been thrown into an already overflowing pot.

Sahin	Altintop	Callejon
A promising talent, but is inexperienced and will need development	Has never been more than a utility player throughout his career	Deemed not of Madrid standard in 2008 - little to suggest a significant improvement

Furthermore, Mourinho is notoriously reticent towards rotation, and on the occasions when he chose to shuffle his pack in 2010-11, his team were found wanting. The former Chelsea and Inter boss prefers to know his best XI, and operate as close to his deemed full capacity whenever his charges are fit and available. A legitimate premise, and one that has stood Barca coach Pep Guardiola, a man with a deliberately slender squad, in rather magnificent stead since 2008.

But where there is a similarity between the methods of Mourinho and Guardiola, there is also a fundamental difference; Guardiola operated with 19 first-teamers in 2010-11, with the remainder supplemented from Luis Enrique's successful B team. Real Madrid's squad is growing by the day, but surely if ever there was an example of quality over quantity breeding rich reward, it is their cross-country adversaries? 

What Madrid have, currently, is a squad that was not of sufficient ability to overcome Barca, and it is becoming engorged by players who will not improve the overall standard. Indeed, they will likely dilute it; more players could equal less minutes for all concerned, and, eventually, unhappy individuals.

Of course, it could be a case that the introduction of Madrid's latest trio in white signifies a precursor to a mass exodus; the sight of Mourinho shepherding the likes of Pedro Leon, who has seen next to no action since January, through the exit door is more probable than not. More could follow; a loan deal for Sergio Canales would be beneficial for a prodigious talent whose career has stalled, while the rumour mill twists and turns unabated over the futures of Granero, Lassana Diarra, and even striker Karim Benzema.

Despite this, the triumvirate of transfers are undeniably underwhelming. A move for Sergio Aguero remains a going interest, but for now there is the unshakable air of ennui. 

Callejon is a player who was offloaded to Espanyol in 2008 because he wasn't deemed to be first-team material, and while he has produced impressive performances for the Barcelona-based club, his displays since have hardly been Earth-shattering. Altintop, meanwhile, could not break into a Bayern Munich team plagued by inconsistency, and that were distinctly withdrawn in their attempts to retain him. Sahin, finally, is unquestionably the most promising, and most talented, of the trio but he remains inexperienced and will require time to adjust to the change of culture.

 Ben Hayward earlier this week assessed the cream of Europe, the superstars who could be approached by Barcelona in order to refine perfection. Cesc Fabregas, Giuseppe Rossi, Javier Pastore - these are names that would enhance any team.

This may be a new era for Madrid - where spending €96 million on a single player is not the done thing - but Barca will not be caught by stepping sideways, and unfortunately their transfer business so far this summer fails to offer a true indication of their ambition, and indeed belief, that Barca can be reined in, in 2011-12.