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Smug Real: ManYoo Are Not A Rival For Us Now
I'm a Real Madrid supporter, and I must confess that I am one of the reasons why there was an angry young man simmering yesterday. He sits next to me in the office and I was annoying him all day long yesterday (We're assuming you mean young James).

However, I agree with nearly all of his comments. I want to add that I have a lot of respect for the Man Utd team, because they have had a lot of success in the last few years, but with these actions, this team is demonstrating that they are no longer a top European club... It is impossible to conceive that a team that have in their transfer kitty 96 million €, can only sign Valencia from Wigan, and cannot compete with Real Madrid for the Karim Benzema transfer. If Man Utd were be a top European team, they would have signed Benzema and Ribery 2 or 3 weeks ago.

This is not just because they are very good players, but also because they knew the interest from Real Madrid to contract them, so it would have been a coup for the Premier League vs La Liga, and for United vs Real Madrid.

Well, I can assure you that we as Madrid fans would have taken one of Benzema, Ribery or Ronaldo (We would actually prefer the two Frenchmen to CR7) and obviously we will happily take the 3 together as it does not seem that Man Utd are a rival for us now.

I thought Man Utd were a rich club, with a large pool of young players, and I still think that they will be able to win the Premiership with your current team, but you will be far away to fight in Europe with teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona.
Pedro (Smug) Fernandez, Madrid


And By The Way...
Here is a possible starting line up for Real Madrid next season:

Iker Casillas
Marcelo Sergio Ramos Christoph Metzelder Gabriel Heinze
Lassana Diarra
Rafael Van der Vaart
Cristiano Ronaldo Kaka Klaas Jan-Huntelaar
Karim Benzema

That's an impressive line up to finish runners up to Barca next season!
Steve In Germany


Was James In Madrid For Real?
Far be it for me to 'bite' to a mailbox letter, but I suspect you cheeky mailbox compilers deliberately plant such a ludicrous headlining piece such as that by James Madrid in order to provoke the maximum reaction at this otherwise quiet time. That, along with the fact I'm sick of mailboxes full of the word 'Tevez' along with the usual Liverpool v Man Utd fans' 'my dad could beat up your dad' squabbles, compelled me to say a couple of things this morning:

1. What is this obsession with fans wanting as many players signed as quick as possible (seemingly regardless of who)? It's not a competition! After United signed Valencia, a Chelsea fan on the BBC comments page was raging that the rest of the big 4 had all signed someone, but Chelsea hadn't! Pardon my French, but what the f*** does it matter at this point?! It's only just turned July, the season doesn't start for another 7 weeks! So many fans these days are so naive that they only seem to care about how many players they buy, and how quickly, rather than who those players happen to be.

2. Before you even get into the meat of James Madrid's text, it is clear that this person has absolutely no idea about how real football, and possibly the real world, works. He sounds like the sort of person whose knowledge of the game extends know further than playing Football Manager (on a glorious day like today, in the box room, at his mam and dad's).

3. Ever heard of something called 'free will' James? The tone of the letter implies that Man Utd should have gone so far as to fly to France and have David Gill and Alex Ferguson, balaclava-clad, break into Benzema's home and basically kidnap him. Blindfold him on the way back, force a United shirt over his head, and whisper a few choice words in his ear. Then, at a hastily arranged press conference the next morning, present a dazed Karim Benzema to the media. "What made you choose United, Karim?" asks a hack. A firm pat on the back from Fergie and a "Go on wee laddie, answer the nice man" and Benzema stutters in broken English "Err...I... lohve... Man-chest-ehrrrr."
David (I think that's what United actually did to John Obi Mikel) Walker


Before The Poetry Begins...
When you are stuck in work and desperate to be in the sun, its easy to fall into a bad mood with the thoughts of what else you could be doing given just a few hours away from your desk.

And then you read the mailbox which is full of whining united fans. Beautiful.

I'll ignore the fact that almost certainly none of these football "experts" will have ever been anywhere near a football ground and that their favourite item of clothing is probably that fluffy jester hat the neighbour's cousin brought back from Old Trafford that time he went (instantly a legend for having attended a match). Instead I'll pretend that almost every single united fan is just as depressed.

I imagine the sane ones aren't but shoving reality aside for just a moment, that thought might, just might, get me through this summer with a smile on my face.
Jamie Henderson


Getting A Little Worried...
I'm not going to throw a hissy fit like that sad b*****d of a United fan yesterday, but things aren't looking all that rosy in Man United's garden at the moment. It's clear that the changing economic climate, with particular emphasis on the Euro rate, has affected The Premier League quite significantly as many have mentioned it would. The Spanish League (well Barca and Madrid) were never all that far behind in the first place, but they clearly now have a financial advantage over our Champions League teams and are intent on taking their top players at a significantly cheaper price than it was this time last year and probably this time next year.

With Benzema going to Madrid there isn't too much top class striking talent currently available to United. If United are going to challenge for the title they are going to need a bit if luck with injuries this season along with one of the younger striking options progressing and making a real contribution. With where the squad was this time last year, I didn't think I'd be saying that right now.
Tim (a little worried, but let's see what happens with Alonso and Mascherano first) Collins


What Fergie Should Do Next
I am worried for United. However, there is another line of thinking which may sound silly at first but if you come to think about it actually makes a lot of sense. With the market being so inflated this season, Fergie should not sign anyone else this summer.

He should give Nani a regular run out on the wing (stop laughing back there!) and rely on Anderson, Macheda, Rafael, Evans in their respective positions as back-ups. Infact Fabio too, I loved his cameo against Spurs last season! I know it would be a huge risk and we may be out of contention by Christmas but I have been skeptical at the beginning of each season for the last 3 years and we did just fine in the end. The rebuilding process can start in the winter transfer window when the competition is less. We can even sign Cup tied players because we would basically be signing for the next season. Without new big money signings we would be starting the season a pretty much underdogs (within the big 3/ big 4), hence the pressure would be off.
AJP


...Now, if I was Fergie, and clearly I am not, I would think it fairly obvious we need a genius in midfield and maybe another winger.

So with that in mind, surely our answer if Joe Cole. Yes he is injury prone, but when on form he is awesome. He seems to have gone a bit stale at Chelski, and would love to see Fergie make a cheeky bid for him and bring him on board converting him into the new Paul Scholes, there is clearly no other option. Plus he is English which is an added bonus.

Mike Plant is right, Ashley Young would also be another fantastic addition to our squad, again young and English. Combine these with Valencia feeding Rooney and Berbs, and that is a pretty awesome front combo!

Shame about Benzema, but clearly the lad had an offer of playing with Kaka and Ronaldo, what would you do??!! You can't blame United for this.

And yes, a short term gain but why not try and bring Thierry back to the Premiership, the man is class.

We are all looking over at Real right now with envious eyes, but a club with clearly no structure or strategy other than immediate success will never succeed when they sack their manager for finishing 2nd in La Liga and losing out to Liverpool, Chelski or man Yoo in the Champions League quarter finals.
Russ Hoyle, Sydney


...This one's fairly logical but I'd be banging on Sevilla's door throwing wads of cash at Luis Fabiano, quick, powerful and a decent scoring record in Spain and with Brazil, he may cost a pretty penny but should definitely be high on Fergie's list.

This one may sound far fetched and feel free to beast me but why not stick in a cheeky 10Mil for Joe Cole? English, not as crocked as Hargreaves, forgotten man at the Bridge, should be near his peak at 27 and can play left and right wing. Also infinitely better than Park and after a long time out may fancy a new challenge.

Two other names maybe worth a mention are the two lads at Porto who impressed in the Champions league. The DM Fernando and Carlos Tevez body double Hulk. As a pair they'd cost a lot but Porto are a known selling club and would find it hard to resist a good offer from MU.

The fact is Fergie's got to do something different now having watched all our top targets head off to sunny Spain, he's now going to have to pull a few deals from left field. Names like Ribery are now muddied with 60, 70M price tags which shouldn't be paid out under any circumstances. I do wonder what we're playing at allowing Benzema to go to Madrid without so much as a rival bid but I'm sure Fergies got the master plan to unleash on us all, either that or he's bricking it............
Dave, Bournemouth


...I have to say, things aren't looking rosy for Sir Alex and United. 1st choice signing off to finish 2nd in the Spanish league with Real Madrid. United really should think about acting sooner, they always seem to leave it until mid-July to buy anyone. If I was Sir Alex, I'd be straight over to Madrid to sign Robben, Huntelaar and Wesley Sneijder.

That's you attacking options sorted and you'd get them reasonably cheap. Then go and buy Senna from Villarreal and you're done. This management lark is easy.....
Mark, Windsor


Wish You Were In His Shoes?
Somewhere in the world right now...þ... is a kid called Kiko Macheda, who is ignoring the sunny weather and training hard, knowing that all Eleven Billion fans of the most supported club in the world will be relying on him next season.

He must be shi**ing himself.
George Gabriel


Five Years Down The Line
Right with all the transfers happening at the moment and it seemingly being Madrid and Barcelona being the office of choice for the worlds elite what does this mean for the English game?

I may be being a bit dramatic but look 5 years down the line. The crème de la crème of world football are plying there trade in Spain, English clubs are still occasionally buying them young and selling them on like Ronaldo et al but are we on the verge of seeing a meteoric rise of the forgotten, a new crop of talented English players? Some one will need to take over the mantle of providing the flair, goals "nice things" about football whilst the steely English backbone carries on doing what it's always done. We are a nation of moaners about the national team, we now have an opportunity to develop the worlds finest and get them playing. Spain's team will be struggling by then due to their youth not getting an opportunity....Anyway you know where I am going with this...

I enjoy watching world class players in the premiership but I think I would prefer to see a strong national side above that. So in other words Ronaldo, f*ck off you can have him.
Mike (I'd still let him play in sky blue at the Ricoh) Gilbertson


Real Transfer Frustration
I know that the mailbox is likely to be deluged in the coming weeks with fans airing their frustrations over who their club have/haven't signed, but I thought I'd chip in anyway.

Today, as with most days recently, started with me feverishly scrolling through all of the transfer rumours I could find. Who would be linked with my beloved Everton today? M'Bia deal done? Reyes again? Moutinho?? Please God, Moutinho... No, none of these, but a whopping £4m deal for Clint Dempsey!

Clint Dempsey! No disrespect to the man, or any Fulham fans who may rate him, but I fail to see how he commands a £4m fee and £37k a week (reportedly)! He isn't the best player in the USA national side, he isn't even the best USA player we've been linked with this summer (Altidore, Bradley) and yet, if the rumour is true (I sincerely hope it isn't) I think it is an indication of what the transfer window has been reduced to.

Back in the all too recent relegation haunted days, I would see Everton buying battlers and hoofers while the clubs who enjoyed moderate success in the league won the signatures of the better players - That's just how it worked. Now we have become a club who is enjoying moderate success (top of the non-big 4 league for the last two years) it seems to have coincided with better players having a hard-on for the nouveau-riche clubs, regardless of their recent performances.

Citeh and, to a lesser extent, Sunderland are continually linked with players I'd envy them signing - Because they can offer European football next year? That should be important to players with ambition, eh Mr Barry? Alas no, it's for the pots of money. I know it is hard to argue with someone who is being offeres lots of money to do their job, but at a club like Everton, they'd still make more in a week than the average Brit does in a year, PLUS they would be showing ambition by joining a club on the up.

All points that have been made before, no doubt, but it is no less true now than it was last time someone (probably Evertonian) wrote in and made it!
David "Can you tell I want Moutinho?" Allen, Runcorn


The Numbered Game
Slightly bemused Chelsea Fan

For clarity I have numbered my thoughts (who says I don't make life easy for Scousers).

1) Yuri Zhirkov (or Jerkov as Mr Ian Wright so eloquently put it).
Now, if there is one thing I don't want to be changed about my team, it is the left wing. Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda appear to be playing at the peak of their powers and creating a partnership other teams could only dream of having on their left flank. Step in Yuri Zhirkov. Why? £18 million for a back up, surely this is some kind of sick joke, even if Hiddink thinks he's the love child of Roberto Carlos and Maldini. Not impressed.

2) What's the problem with Bosingwa?
I for one thought he had a remarkable debut season in the Premiership and it looks like he will get better. So why are we linked with all these right backs? Glen Johnson? No thanks we've had that calamity prone chap before and Jose sold him (Always trust Jose). Maicon? Great player but not the strongest defensively.As for the Bayern Munich rumours, why would we sell a right back we bought for £17 million only last year anyway? Baffled.

3) The whiney Man United faithful.
Oh how fickle are you guys? Completely spoilt by success, so much so that it has turned the majority of you into animals. Okay, you have lost a few players (Bye bye Ronaldo! Woohoo! Don't worry I hear Manucho will be back from his loan spell!) but be patient, support your team in adversity for once. One minute you're praying in the direction of Alex F and the next you're cursing him. Sad.

4) Undisclosed fees.
They do my nut in. Not easy.
Dan, London


Beating The World Reputers
While I hate to imply that CRonaldo is in any way superior to many of the fantastic players who've played in the premiership, the phrase "world beater" really has to have a bit of context put on it - because the Premiership has genuinely not had many.

The players generally mentioned in the World Player of the Year polls - the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho at their (sometimes very brief) peaks, were in a very different class. Ditto George Weah. There's been about three players in the Premiership whose peaks could arguably be placed on the same pedestal, apart from the recently departed, and then only if you really felt like an argument. Scholes was a great player, but nobody is arguing that Spain's league was the best in the 90s because of Redondo or Guardiola - get some perspective.

It's easy to dismissively claim that Cronaldo was a flat-track bully, but it's a little harder to explain why a fantastic player like Gerrard doesn't make the difference as often on the so-called flat-tracks. The premiership has now had one player ever who some people will argue to be the greatest of his time (two if you're from Cork, in which case you're predisposed towards irrational argument). They'll be wrong, but it's players in Spain or Italy that will be used to illustrate this.
Andrew, Ireland


There Have Been Two World-Beaters In The Prem: Ronaldo And...
With regards to all of the responses about Pete Gill's comments concerning Ronaldo being the only player of world beater repute to have played in the Prem I wanted to raise a few points.

1. World beater means to surpasses all others in your particular field. It does not just mean you are in the top 2 or 3 players in your position.

2. There is an award called the Ballon d'Or which is given to the best player in Europe for the previous year.

3. I presume most people would agree that the best player in the world for the past 20 years has plied their trade at a European club, therefore we can assume that the Ballon d'Or is generally given to the best player in the world for the past year, i.e. a world beater.

4. Two players that have played in the Premiership have received the Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Owen.

5. Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Owen have therefore been of world beater repute.

6. Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel, David Beckham Thierry Henry, Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and the others mentioned have not won the Ballon d'Or, and following the above logic, are not world beaters.

7. Pete Gill is wrong, the mailboxers are wrong, I am right.
Tacas (logic is my friend and mentor) x


And The Winner Is...
David Beckham has in his medal cabinet:

6 Premier League
1 European Cup
1 La Liga
2 FA Cup

And various others ie FA Youth Cup, Charity Shield (or whatever it's called now), Supercopa etc.

And what has Donovan got?

2 MLS Cup
Runner up medal from Confederations cup
er....

I'm not Beckhams biggest fan but he has proved time and again that he does "bust his ass" in games, and more and more for England, that he is prepared to become a team player instead of the star.

Donovan has tried his luck in Germany and failed on both occasions. Beckham has played in 3 different countries, only in America has he not brought some level of success to the team. Donavan should take a long hard look at the game in America before he castigates Beckham for trying to bring some glamour to what still is a Mickey Mouse league.
Sara (yes girls like football too)


How Rude
Is getting published in the Mailbox during the summer months (when no tournament to keep us interested) abit like scoring in a pre season friendly, in that it doesnt really count and nothign to get excited about?

Just a thought.
From Paul (Why wont Villa buy anyone and replace our 2 best players!) O'Sullivan


Question Of The Day
Who's gonna be using Real Madrid in Pro evolution next season?
Timmy G


Jumping For Joy
I just wanted to welcome Roberto Di Matteo to the West Midlands. I'm genuinely excited about him taking over my football club; he seems an honourable man, he's enthusiastic and committed to playing football the 'right way' and, most importantly of all, he's the best wearer of a jumper in football.

Forza WBA.
Chris Shakespeare


Now Here's A Question
I know these players all bring different qualities to a team. But if you could only choose one player currently playing the Premier League, who would you want in your squad?

1) Alonso
2) Essien
3) Mascherano
4) Fabregras

Honest responses please.
Sam M