Ruud delighted as Real deal goes through

Ruud van Nistelrooy is over the moon with his move to Real Madrid. He described this as 'a dream come true'. Given the strained relationship with Alex Ferguson, this does not come as a surprise. Well, he can certainly smile now after all the doom and gloom of last season and the lacklustre World Cup.

Van Nistelrooy, speaking at a press conference, said: 'It's a great honour to stand here in the Bernabeu and it is a dream come true. Real Madrid is a great club; it's got history, the greatest players ever have played here, so it's a great honour on my side. 'I have to speak in English - I am sorry, I will try to learn Spanish as quickly as I can because this move means everything for me. 'I want to thank everybody for the confidence and the belief they have shown in me I will do everything in my ability to play well.'

Real is looking very strong for the new season with all these additions and it is disconcerting (to their opponents) to find out that more players could still be on the way there. Real president Ramon Calderon revealed that the squad building process has just started, 'During the electoral campaign the fans asked insistently that if we won the elections that we made a big effort to try to compliment the great squad we had with new players that could come and end this bad spell that we have had for the last three years.'

'Today I can say with pride that this board of directors is more satisfied than a week ago. Although I have also underlined that not all the work has been done and we are expecting other signings in the coming weeks.'

No fee was officially disclosed for Ruud's deal but it was believed to be in the region of 10-11 million pounds. Alex Ferguson must be desperate to let Ruud go, considering how Real has stood their ground and did not deviate much from their original bid while United make a weak attempt in benchmarking the deal to the price Chelsea paid for Shevchenko. It did not work and it was sad to see the richest club in the world (formerly) grabbing whatever is held in front of them.

Well, enough of the price issue as the deal is already cut and dried. The pertinent question now is whether the striking department is up to the challenge for the new season. As it is, they have Rooney, Saha, Solskjaer, Smith and Rossi (Scholes can also play behind the striker if needed). Things may not be as bad as they look if Rooney, Scholes and Solskjaer are kept free of injuries and in free-scoring mode.

However, age has caught up with both Scholes and Solskjaer, and they have lost much of their pace and stamina. The fact that Ferguson may prefer to beef up the midfield by deploying Solskjaer on the right and Scholes in the centre will further limit the options upfront. Hence there is little choice but for the other strikers to carry the burden together with Rooney.

Saha seems the best candidate to partner Rooney but given his performance (or lack of) in the World Cup, it is not an encouraging sign. As for Smith, how much he has improved since coming to Old Trafford is debatable but one thing is for sure, he has failed in his attempts to be Roy Keane's successor and in moving upfront to his traditional role, it is now time to show his worth. Soccer Pundit is sure that if he fails this time, the axe will fall. Finally, Rossi, the fourth striker which Alex has termed, he is still young and can be excused even if he is not scoring enough goals.

Meanwhile, Michael Carrick looks set to complete his protracted move to Manchester United from Tottenham after the clubs agreed a fee. Carrick has yet to agree personal terms with the Old Trafford outfit but should have a medical on Monday.

A club statement said: 'Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur can confirm that they have agreed terms for the transfer of the registration of Michael Carrick conditional upon the player agreeing personal terms with Manchester United. 'He shall also be required to pass a medical that will take place on Monday.'

Finally, a bit of uplifting news. The fee is not disclosed but Soccer Pundit believes the purchase of Carrick does not come cheaply. It is a bit baffling at times how United conduct their end of the business when they can sell some of their best players for average prices while paying the best prices for the average players.

Not that Carrick is average but he is by far the 'finished product' and would need time to develop into a world class player, that is if he develops at all. Given the failures of Liam Miller and Alan Smith who are both touted by Ferguson to be THE ONE, Soccer Pundit is keeping his fingers crossed on this one...

Clarification of Duff's Transfer

It is really not an easy task writing commentaries when conflicting reports abound.

It has been confirmed that the Duff's transfer was for £5million instead of 10 million and Soccer Pundit has to set the record straight. According to Newcastle United’s statement to the Stock Exchange, “The directors of Newcastle United PLC are pleased to announce that Damien Duff passed his medical and his transfer from Chelsea has been completed for a fee of £5 million. The player has agreed personal terms and signed a five-year contract ending in June 2011.”

Now it appears to be a bargain coup for Newcastle because you can't really get players of this quality for £5 million in this age of inflated prices and certainly not in the Premiere League market. However, before Tottenham fans start banging their heads on the wall, several factors could be at play in this transaction.

Firstly, it is likely that Chelsea have set the bar higher for Tottenham (a threat they take seriously) while for Newcastle, they are happy to let Duff go for a lower price because money is the least of concerns for the Chelsea's management (with sugar daddy Abramovich bankrolling them). If Manchester United or Arsenal had knocked on the door, the price could even be raised to 15 million or maybe a no-deal.

Secondly, the devil is in the details. The actual contract may place greater emphasis on performance, ie. Duff’s appearances and Newcastle’s League and Cups successes that could eventually take the total contract sum beyond Tottenham's bid.

It is still early days to say whether this deal is such a great bargain but somehow Soccer Pundit has a feeling that Roeder may be a more prudent and shrewd manager than Souness (look at the players he brought in, Owen, Luque and Boumsong who have not done much to justify their price-tags).

Unfortunately, Roeder may not have as much time as Souness on the job with Shearer's retirement. Roeder himself doesn't seem to be perturbed with the lack of successor for the No. 9 shirt and he has exhibited no sense of urgency yet, but he could soon be under immense pressure if Newcastle start off the league slowly and find themselves on the wrong end of the table. Options are getting limited by the day so he has to move fast, and it is not as though money is a big problem for Shepherd.

Soccer Pundit will be keeping a close eye on their future transfers (especially strikers) and keeping everyone updated.

Wayne Rooney hits out at Moyes

It seems that Rooney has decided to showcase a bit of his literary genius besides soccer skills in his autobiography. By signing a £5m five-book deal with publisher HarperCollins, this will be one of the biggest in publishing history. The first volume - up to and including this year's World Cup - is due to hit bookshelves soon. The follow-up books - over the next 12 years - will cover the rest of Rooney's playing career.

In case anybody isn't aware, Rooney made his mark at Goodison Park as their youngest player but joined United in 2004 for around £25 million ($46.30 million). He rose to fame quickly while at Everton and made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old in 2002. Just a few days shy of his 17-year-old birthday, he netted a superb match-winner against Arsenal and became the youngest goal-scorer (record belongs to James Milner now).

Everton manager will not be too pleased to know that Rooney has spilled the beans on their unhappy relationship which he blamed for his hastened departure to Manchester United. 'I would have gone almost anywhere just to get away from David Moyes. If no-one had come in I would have joined Newcastle,' Rooney wrote in My Story So Far, serialised in the Daily Mail.

'To me he appeared overbearing; just wanting to control people. I suppose being young and confident and playing for England at 17, I wasn't bothered about upsetting him or answering back.'

That is not all as he went on to accuse Moyes of being unsupportive of his superstardom. 'There was only one person who seemed a bit upset and envious of what was happening to me - and that was Moyes,' said Rooney.

Now, now Rooney, Soccer Pundit is sure that overbearing is also a trait which Alex Ferguson is known for and it will be surprising if you haven't found that out yet. If Rooney can't stand Moyes controlling people, then it would be hard to imagine him tolerating life at Manchester United. The attempts by Ferguson to stop Rooney from featuring in the World Cup would also have caused much frustration to him but Soccer Pundit believes Rooney does know where to draw the line where unsavory comments go.

As this is only phase one of his autobiography currently available for public consumption, there could be more explosive details in later parts. Rooney mentioned something about the "surprises". "I'm excited about this deal, it's a big thing for me. Hopefully, there will be lots of things to read about," he said. "I'll be talking about my life in football and other things as well. There will be a few surprises in there.

"It's something I wanted to do. I've been playing football now for just under four years and I think it will be good for people to see the other side of me and hear things from me for once. "When they talk to me, people say, 'I didn't expect you to be how you are.' "Hopefully I can put that across to people. They think I'm a different person to what I am. I'm just a normal young lad who plays football."

He also gave accounts of his gambling addiction, relationship with his fiancé Coleen McLoughlin as well as the Carvalho's incident where he embedded his studs in his genitals. From the little snippets we have seen so far, it appears that Rooney is not as much of a potato-head as what many people believe him to be. Definitely he has shown some maturity in his thoughts which is a good thing and if he could just control his temper on the pitch, then he should be able to gain more respect as a football star.

Hmm, by the way, Soccer Pundit wonders how will Ashley Cole feel when Rooney's book outsold his own?