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Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has confirmed the signing of 17-year-old midfielder Federico Valverde from Uruguayan side Club Atletico Penarol.

In an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena SER, Perez admitted he had just closed the deal that will bring the promising footballer to Madrid, although he will not arrive until next summer.

“He is only 17 years old and we cannot bring him until he is 18, but when he reaches that age he will be here,” Perez explained.

The Uruguayan will come of age on July 22th next year, so that’s the date when he is expected to move to Madrid. Until then, he will keep playing for Penarol, where he has already made his professional debut.

Valverde is a talented playmaker who has made a great impression in Uruguay. He has played regularly for Uruguay’s national youth teams. In fact, he is currently the captain of the Under-18 squad.

Los Blancos want him to join Real Madrid Castilla next year so he can start adapting to European football.

Florentino Perez and Los Blancos are focusing on youth and keep working hard to sign youngsters with a bright future ahead. This year he has brought Martin Odegaard, Marco Asensio, Jesús Vallejo and now Valverde.

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Real Madrid winger Denis Cheryshev says he is ready to knuckle down and fight for his place in the team despite having to compete with the like of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Russian international, who grew up in the youth teams at Los Blancos, has spent the past couple of seasons away from the club. Two years ago he made a temporary switch to Sevilla but injuries restricted his appearances and halted his progress.

He went out on another season-long loan last year to Villarreal where he flourished so much so that new Real boss Rafa Benitez brought him back and plans to use him in the first team squad this campaign.

Speaking to Madrid-based sports daily AS, Cheryshev, who was subject of interest from the likes of Liverpool and Valencia this summer, said he is ready to make the step up. He revealed the club had also buyout inserted a clause in his contract to ward off potential suitors.

“Yes. It was decided by the club. It shows Madrid didn’t want anyone to sign me. There was interest and even a proposed transfer, but Madrid didn’t want to let me go,” he said.

And he added: “I realise Cristiano Ronaldo plays in my position but that doesn’t frighten me. When I get a chance, I’ll try to take it. I’m not afraid of anything.”

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Former Real Madrid left back Roberto Carlos has said David Beckham is a better free kick taker than him but he still practices every day to improve.

The Brazilian now coaches in India after retiring as a player but says he loves to take free kicks every day and show fans of Delhi Dynamos he’s still got it when it comes to being a dead ball specialist.

The 42-year-old made a name for himself throughout his career for taking thunderous free kicks. Perhaps his most impressive was the ‘banana’ free kick he took for Brazil against France in Le Tournoi in 1997.

But speaking to Sport360, the ex-defender said he thinks former team mate Beckham takes better free kicks than him.

“I practise my free kicks every day. Of course, at the age of 42 the quality is not what it was, but I’m still determined to show India the best of Roberto Carlos. There are seven days in a week. I take seven free kicks daily. You should be relaxed before taking the free kick. You should have confidence in your ability and happiness that you are going to score a goal,” he said.

And he added: “Beckham takes free kicks better than me. It is a joy to watch him take free kicks and he has proved that free kicks are not all about power.”

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France boss Didier Deschamps says striker Karim Benzema is as important to his national side as Cristiano Ronaldo is to Portugal’s.

The Real Madrid man started in Les Bleu’s 1-0 win over Ronaldo’s side in Friday night’s friendly between the two countries. Matieu Valbuena scored a late winner for the French.

Speaking to the press ahead of the game, Deschamps had plenty of words of praise for 27-year-old Benzema and hailed his influence on the team. The former Lyon man, who was linked with a move to Arsenal over the summer, has netted 25 goals in 78 appearances for his country since making his debut in March 2007.

“The presence of Karim is very important. He’s a top-level player who has international experience. He’s not going to resolve everything by himself, but Karim is Karim and I prefer having him with us,” Deschamps stated.

And he continued: “It’s like with Portugal. If [Cristiano] Ronaldo isn’t there, it’s not the same thing. In order to be efficient, France will always need Karim to be on top of his game.”

Benzema opened his account for Real Madrid this season in the 5-0 win over Real Betis last weekend and will be looking to add to his tally when Los Blancos take on Espanyol after the international break.

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Real Madrid legend Manolo Sanchis has defined Los Blancos failure to sign David de Gea in the last day of the transfer window as “science fiction.”

The former Los Merengues captain has been very critical with the outcome of the negotiations: “I couldn’t believe that something that takes so much time and was so crucial didn’t arrive on time for just a couple of minutes. It looked like science fiction.”

The Spaniard, however, believes Real Madrid are not to blame: “This is not their fault, but their image has been damaged and the have lost a high quality goalkeeper. De Gea is a great keeper and has a bright future ahead.”

In an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena COPE, Sanchis also admitted the position is well covered: “Real Madrid have three goalkeepers at the moment, and both Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla guarantee good performances. They have done very well when they’ve been given the chance to play.”

Speaking of La Liga, Sanchis warned it will be tough for Madrid to win it: “It is going to be fun. I see Atletico, Valencia and Sevilla very strong and maybe they can surprise us all.”

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The war of words between Manchester United and Real Madrid over the failed transfer of David de Gea to the Santiago Bernabeu has escalated with the Red Devils claiming Los Blancos were clumsy.

The Premier League side made the statement a day after Real president Florentino Perez apologised to Madridista hoping to see ge Gea in a Los Blancos shirt saying the reason the transfer collapsed at the last moment was due to the inexperience of the United directors when handling high profile deals.

Since the deal collapsed due to the paperwork arriving minutes after the close of the transfer window, both clubs have sought to put the blame on each other.

A spokesman for United said on Friday: “The facts speak for themselves. The FA are prepared to back our case that documents were in on time; Real seem intent to move the focus away from their own clumsiness this summer.”

They continued: “We all like to blame others but if you let one slip through your fingers into the back of the net, then ultimately the culpability is yours.”

De Gea is expected to be back in the Red Devils team after the international break having been dropped by Louis van Gaal so far this season.

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Florentino Perez, Real Madrid president

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has spoken for the first time about the failure to sign David de Gea from Manchester United, saying he can’t understand why the Red Devils took so long to submit the required paperwork and suggested the directors at the Premier League side lack experience.

The deal to take the goalkeeper to the Santiago Bernabeu looked all but done with the clubs agreeing a 30 million euro fee and Keylor Navas moving the opposite direction.

But shortly after the close of the transfer window, it emerged the paperwork had not arrived with the footballing authorities on time meaning the deal was not completed and de Gea would remain at Old Trafford.

The two clubs have sought to blame each other over the embarrassing handling of the situation, with both de Gea and Navas now reportedly both angry and unhappy at how the events unfolded.

Speaking to Cadena SER’s ‘El Larguero’, Perez sought to clarify the situation and apologise to Madridistas who had hoped to see de Gea between the sticks.

“We reached an agreement in a half hour, the contract were drawn up and sent by 13:30. It took Manchester United eight hours to return the contracts.  They didn’t do it out of malice.  They had a lot of work to do, but for something that only takes an hour, it took them eight,” he stated.

And he added: “Everything ended in a moment that we didn’t wish to make public.  We still don’t understand many things that happened, but I’m not here to place blame on anyone.  They lack experience in these matters, because it’s the exact same thing that happened last year with Coentrao and what happened with Ander Herrera and Athletic Bilbao.”

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Wales and Real Madrid star Gareth Bale has said his nation is heading into unknown territory when the take on Israel on Sunday when they’ll attempt to qualify for their first major tournament for the first time since 1958.

The Los Blancos forward scored an 82nd minute winner against Cyprus in Nicosia on Thursday evening – the first time Wales have won there since 1992 – to put his nation just three points away from qualifying for the European Championships in France next summer.

Speaking to reporters after the game, the 25-year-old said the Wales players have never known what it’s like to be within touching distance of a major championship adding that they will need to be united and work hard for each other on Sunday.

“We’ve never done it so I’m guessing it’s going to be hard. But this group is focused, we really know what we need to do and hopefully we can deliver on Sunday. It would probably be the best thing we’ve achieved. If we can get across the line it’ll be an amazing thing, not just for us but the whole nation and the whole of Welsh football. We know what’s coming. All out attention has been focused on the Cyprus game, we haven’t thought about the Israel game at all,” he stated.

About his all-important goal, he said: “I’ve not scored too many better [headers] and at a vital time, which was important. Obviously it wasn’t our best performance in terms of attacking but we defended well as a unit and showed again what a good team we are.”

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Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos says Premier League clubs won’t dominate the Champions League this season just because they spent more in the transfer market.

At the close of the transfer window, English sides set a new record for summer spending with a total of almost 1.2 billion euros spent on new players this summer. The figure is some way clear of the other major European leagues in Spain, Italy and Germany.

But speaking to reporters about the disparity between the spending in the various leagues, German international Kroos says it will make no difference in the Champions League.

“The transfer fees are sometimes staggering. But I don’t [think] the spending in England has to be dramatised. They will not pull ahead of Germany or Spain. It might not be an ideal development, but I don’t have any fears that England will overtake us,” he commented.

He also spoke about the need for players not be feel under any pressure because of the fees clubs pay out for them.

“Transfer fees don’t show which player is better. It’s only a number necessary for a club to get a player. It’s just a development. When a club has €200m left on its transfer budget in the final days of the transfer period, why shouldn’t they make a higher bid when their initial €70m bid has been rejected?” he commented.

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Wales boss Chris Coleman said he was confident star man Gareth Bale wouldn’t be bullied when his side faced Cyprus on Thursday night.

The teams met in their European Championship qualifier in Cyprus, 11 months on from the reverse fixture in Cardiff when the visitors employed some some strong-arm tactics to try and stop the Real Madrid forward. They picked up 11 yellow cards on an evening in which Wales won 2-1 to claim three vital points.

Ahead of the game, Coleman, who briefly managed La Liga side Real Sociedad, said he expected Cyprus to go in hard again on Bale, but added the 25-year-old is able to stand up for himself.

“They gave him [Bale] a little bit and Cyprus are going to do what they’ve got to do to get a result,” Coleman told reporters.

And he added: “But Gareth’s a strong boy and he knows how to ride a tackle. He can’t see everyone coming, but if he gets a clump I expect the referee – whether it’s in Wales or in Cyprus – to deal with it accordingly.
“We’re not asking for special treatment, we just want normal treatment. They’ll make it difficult for us again, but why should they make it easy? But we’ll just concentrate on what we want to do.”
In the end, Bale showed his strength and worth to the team by netting the 82nd minute winner to put his country on the brink of qualification – they need one more win from their remaining three games.
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