Real Madrid's Pursuit For Sami Khedira Is a Step Forward In The Right Direction

Those of you who have been following Real Madrid's transfer updates would be familiar with a similar trend in the process of signing a player.

Firstly the media links Real Madrid with millions of players, the second step is the player's acceptance of his love for Real Madrid and how he's always wanted to play for the club. Next, the President of the "target's" club issues statements about how the player is not for sale, and simultaneously hangs a hefty price-tag on the player which is 20-25% above the actual price of the player.

Now there are different things that happen depending on whether the player is an actual target or not. If the player was not a real target, the rumors slowly die down and the occasional Madridista's tweets and/or comments on blogs, forums etc. about how he/she would like to see the said player wearing the royal whites pop up in a Google search.

And if a player is a real target, then the President (Sporting Director etc. etc.) of his club issues a statement about how they haven't received any bid from Real Madrid (75% of the time, this is a sign that there is interest in the player), the negotiations begin, the player gets restless and goes on dropping hints in interviews that his signing is a matter of time, Real Madrid get the player but pay more than the market price.

Every Madridista is happy that the new player has arrived but nearly everyone believes the price is a little too much on the higher side then it should be. The cycle continues.

This trend started to change last season, when Real Madrid said no to Valencia's demand of more money for David Villa, Real Madrid told Valencia to shove him up theirs and moved on, although the "Plan B" hasn't panned out exactly like they would have expected but it is not such a bad transfer looking at Benzema's previous records and his age. The good thing here is that they have learned to say no to teams's exorbitant demands for players.

The change in pattern seems to be continuing as Real Madrid have already denied to pay €50 million to Bayern Munich for Bastian Schweinsteiger, €30 million to Athletic Bilbao for Javi Martinez, and €30 million to Liverpool for Steven Gerrard. Now we can all agree that all of them are wonderful players, but are definitely not worth the money their teams are asking for. The smart thing to do is communicate with the teams and get the prices down, but neither Bayern Munich or Athletic Bilbao are in need to sell their players so they probably wouldn't lower their prices, like Valencia refused to budge last year.

Going after Sami Khedira is a brilliant decision as at €8-10 million, he isn't half as expensive as the aforementioned players and is a pretty decent player, one of the brightest talents of Germany—so my Bayern Munich supporting friend tells me!

For those who are skeptical about Sami Khedira joining Real Madrid, this isn't the first time that Sami Khedira has caught the attention of Real Madrid, 2 seasons ago when he was busy winning the U-21 World Cup with Germany he caught the eye of Real Madrid for the first time. Sami Khedira had a brilliant World Cup with Germany recently and add to that the fact that even Jose Mourinho himself pondered about signing him last season at Internazionale, the interest in Sami Khedira was bound to rekindle.

I am just happy that Real Madrid are looking at cheaper alternatives instead of throwing money on the players, I hope this trend continues and they learn to spend money more wisely and don't get conned by the selling clubs.

Now if you are still not convinced by Sami Khedira, you better start liking him, like I did with Angel Di Maria (I might smile and accept his signing but still I am not happy about this signing, he's too expensive for someone unproven and might cost us a few of the Canteranos),  because if you believe what AS & Marca have to say, Sami Khedira was in Madrid yesterday and also visited the Valdebebas, and that the completion of Sami's transfer is a matter of hours.

More on Sami Khedira after the completion of the transfer (75% of me believes the signing is done)! Hala Madrid!