Juande Ramos Not Wasting Any Time At Real Madrid Sticking It Tottenham

When Juande Ramos was jettisoned from White Hart Lane in October, it was less than amicable. So when the former Spurs manager got to Real Madrid with a “short” contract, we imagine that he was eager to try to find any way to extend his middle finger to his former employers to the north. Enter Andrei Arshavin, the Russian kid phenom who lit up Euro 2008. Ramos and Spurs begged him to head over to North London to replace Robbie Keane or Dimitar Berbitov, but the Russian never wanted to fully commit to either Spurs or the English game in general, even though Ramos hounded Arshavin, his agent and Russian squad, Zenit. It looks like that zeal has continued in Spain with Arshavin looking to be Los Blanco’s top target in the January transfer window. And this time it looks to be working.

Ramos failed with a 16 million bid to take the Russian to White Hart Lane last summer. But he remains a big fan of the classy playmaker and seems certain to win the race to sign the man who starred at Euro 2008.

Arshavin said: “I can confirm that officials from Zenit have begun preliminary negotiations with Real Madrid about my transfer.

Ironically, Spanish papers are questioning whether Madrid’s hire was a wise one, given his previous outing managing Spurs. While his defenders argue that the main issue he had in England was a language barrier, his detractors are quick to point out that Real has a huge number of Dutch players. We wonder what will happen with Arshavin added to the mix—will Ramos’ supposed managing skills overcome the barrier in Spain, where he’s had successes coaching? Or will they continue to hamper him until the Spanish Harry Redknapp comes in and gets Real Madrid back on top.
Earlier: Juande Ramos Must Have A Great Agent—Gets Real Madrid Job After Tottenham Disaster
Oh Look Who Listened To Us—Juande Ramos Out As Tottenham Manager, Portsmouth’s Harry Redknapp In
Spanish media sceptical over Ramos [Reuters]
Spurs miss out on Arshavin [Sun UK]
Image [Sky Sports]