Real Madrid CF have announced a pre-transfer window agreement with Ajax for striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar. The move is intended to cover the long-term injury of Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has undergone surgery as I reported earlier. The Spanish champions have been chasing Huntelaar for the past two seasons and are pleased to have finally worked out a deal (that could rise to 27million euros) with Ajax for the 25-year-old.Huntelaar will become the sixth Dutch player at Madrid, along with Van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart and Royston Drenthe. I think this is a fantastic move for Real Madrid as both of their main strikers Raul and RVN are over 30 and they have used Saviola only sparingly since signing him from Barcelona. Madrid have been struggling in La Liga, at least by their high standards. They are currently in fourth place after a 3–1 defeat to Getafe at the weekend, and have also struggled in the Champions League. They lost home and away to Juventus and had narrow wins over BATE and Zenit.
The hope is that Huntelaar’s arrival in January will provide a spark to the club and that he will be able to keep up his phenomenal strike rate. Huntelaar burst onto the scene with SC Heerenveen scoring 34 goals in 46 games. Since moving to Ajax, he has totalled 79 goals in 97 games. He also scored 18 goals in 22 games for the Dutch U-21 side before moving to the senior team where he has collected another 10 goals in 18 appearances.
ESPN’s Dominic Raynor has written an article outlining what he feels are the reasons behind the move.
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