Debate: Is Raul Albiol Florentino Perez's Defensive Salvation?

All the ‘Real Madrid haters’, and there are quite a number of them, have been laughing at the club and predicting even more misery for the Spanish giants and European powerhouse as soon as Florentino Perez officially came into office.

After all, this is the man whose rather opaque Galactico policy had spectacularly collapsed and whose nearly six years in the presidential hotseat at the 'White House' had yielded only one Champions League and two Liga titles, as many as FC Barcelona won in just two years.

The Madrid haters were laughing again when AC Milan announced the departure of Kaka to the Bernabeu. After all, they said, Kaka is past his best and his injuries over the past two years have made him a less effective and more docile player who is certainly not worth €65 million.

Then Madrid announced the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo for €93 million and the Madrid haters almost fell off their chair onto the floor rolling with laughter. Come on, Ronaldo!? And that too for €93 million euros? €93 million is half of Lionel Messi's buy-out clause and Ronaldo is a cheat, a second rate diver who would perhaps be better off working at movies collecting Oscars rather than on a football pitch collecting Ballon d’Ors.

But they laughed more because, as they said, Madrid were making the same old mistakes. Last time when Perez was in charge, he made it almost an obsession to sign one big name player (Galactico) every summer; now he had signed two in the space of less than two weeks. More were to follow: David Villa, Xabi Alonso, Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema, all non-defenders. Last time, they said, Perez didn't sign defenders, only attackers, conveniently forgetting about Sergio Ramos and Walter Samuel, and this time they were going to do the same. And the end too would be the same, only this time it would be even more spectacularly ridiculous.

Yet the workings of the mind of perhaps the shrewdest politician in club football is beyond the comprehension of those for whom football is 'just a game'. True, Perez committed quite a number of mistakes in his first spell as the president of the biggest and most successful club in the world but he surely must have learnt his lessons. The signings of Kaka and Ronaldo were as much essential as glamorous but to the Madrid bashers the signing of two of the best players in the word was a mistake. Even if it were so, then surely it has been rectified by signing one of the best defenders in Europe last season. For a paltry €15 million.

It was only a few hours ago that it was announced Raul Albiol has been transferred from Valencia to Real Madrid. The fee is said to be around  €15 million and the player has yet to take his medical test, which he shall after he returns from Confederations Cup duty for Spain but it can be assumed that he will pass the test.

Raul Albiol is by no means the second coming of Nemanja Vidic, let alone another Alessandro Nesta (another excuse for the Madrid haters to laugh at Perez?). A talented 23-year-old, the Spanish international central defender is versatile enough to play as a holding medio; he can also feature as a left back in times of emergency. A one-year loan stint at Getafe did him a world of good and since his return to the Mestalla, Albiol has climbed the ladder of progression with marvelous pace, learning from Roberto Fabian Ayala and Carlos Marchena. Albiol has been a regular for Valencia for the past four seasons and was included in Goal.com’s La Liga Team of the Season in 2008-2009.

As everyone has been clamoring, Real Madrid have eventually signed a central defender. Madrid did and still do have defensive problems - Gabriel Heinze should play his testimonial match soon, Fabio Cannavaro never really clicked at the Bernabeu, Pepe's class is negated by his rather overly boisterousness and Miguel Torres' quality and services have been rendered useless to the point of criminality; yet as so vehemently exhibited last season Madrid's midfield needed reinforcement and they have now reinforced that department (Ronaldo and Kaka).

Albiol's signing, just like those of Kaka and CR7, doesn't necessarily guarantee success and does not imply that Madrid will stop conceding goals from next season. What it does reveal is a more tempered and more intelligent ‘spending spree’ from Perez and from Madrid and shows the Madrid bashers that Perez has learnt his lessons.

When Sergio Ramos was signed from Sevilla in 2005 for €27 million, he came as a raw talent whose versatility was a boon and whose rampaging runs down the right flank was refreshingly delightful. In the past four or so years Ramos has developed into a world class right-back (who of course is still erratic defensively at times). Albiol comes to the Bernabeu with more credentials than Ramos did in 2005; he has won the European championship with Spain and was one of the few reasons to smile about at the Mestalla last season. Albiol has already improved and makes less errors than he used to and at 23 can only get better.

Of course, much will depend on how Albiol plays alongside Pepe. Albiol is one of those players who needs to play with a world class centre-back who can lead the backline. Under the current circumstances his central defensive partner at Madrid is likely to be Pepe but the Portuguese international is a volatile character typified by his disgraceful actions against Getafe in April.

Yet with the sharply intelligent and the quietly authoritative Manuel Pellegrini in charge, there is every possibility that the Pepe-Albiol partnership in central defence would paid dividends.

Subhankar Mondal