According to the Spanish sports daily Marca, Liverpool defender Daniel Agger is not a target for Real Madrid, contrary to reports in the UK press...

After the original story appeared in The Times this morning, it has been widely reported across the British media that Real Madrid have publicly declared their intention to exploit the uncertainty over Daniel Agger’s future at Liverpool by making a bid for the defender in the January transfer window.

According to The Times, José Ángel Sánchez, the Real Madrid Director General, said: “He (Agger) is a player we have been looking at for a long time and it is likely we will bid for him in January, he is a world-class player and without a doubt he would fit into our system.”

“We already had plans about buying Agger this summer, along with some other players, but the Robinho situation took so much attention and demanded so many resources from the club that we had to drop the plans about putting a bid in for Agger and other players that we had in mind. What we need is a defender and a striker and, at the moment, Agger is on top of our list,” added Ángel Sánchez.

However, the Spanish sports daily Marca had a very different take on the story, and their man with the inside line on the comings and goings at Real Madrid writes: “There has been a lot of talk over the last few days suggesting that Real Madrid will be signing a central defender in January. However, the reports claiming that the Spanish champions are considering moves for either Daniel Agger or Mertesacker (Werder Bremen) are in no way true. Schuster has NOT asked for reinforcements in the centre of defence and with Garay due to join up with the side when his loan spell at Racing comes to an end next summer, the position is well and truly covered for several seasons....even if Cannavaro does leave.”

So, which version of the story should we believe?

Bizarrely, both reports are probably accurate. In other words, is it possible that a senior figure at the club genuinely believes that the Liverpool defender is a January transfer target? Yes.

Is it possible that Marca´s sources at the Bernabeu are also correct and that Bernd Schuster really does have no interest in strengthening his back line, after all he does already have Fabio Cannavaro, Pepe, Christoph Metzelder, Sergio Ramos and Gabriel Heinze all able to play in the centre - with Garay set to join in the summer?

Yes, that could also be true as well.

Confused? You´re not alone.

After all, the Real Madrid Sporting Director, Pedrag Mijatovic claimed, only yesterday, that the club would probably not be signing anyone in January, but that they would be making two or three major signings in the summer. And then you have Schuster talking about how he desperately needs to sign a striker as soon as possible.

All of which serves to confirm, when it comes down to transfer policy, just how confused the internal situation at Real Madrid has become: something that we´ve been talking about on GuillemBalague.com for a while now.

As we reported the other day, the relationship between the Real Madrid coach, Bernd Schuster, and sporting director Pedrag Mijatovic is at an all-time low and an inability to find common ground over transfer targets could harm the club's La Liga and Champions League aspirations.

Things have got so bad that Schuster feels there are elements within the Madrid hierarchy who are plotting against him. He's even asked Calderon if there is someone who wants him out - and the German is suggesting that someone might be Mijatovic.

So, rather than these contradictory reports being a result of the Spanish and English media getting things badly wrong, this constant  stream of mixed messages coming out of the Bernabeu, as they have been all summer, actually reflects the confused situation at the club itself. Schuster talks about signing one player, while Mijatovic talks about another; Mijatovic claims the club will be signing nobody,  Calderon brags of signing just about everybody -  and now José Ángel Sánchez openly talks about signing a centre half, when what Schuster really wants is a striker and a winger.

So, who do we believe, or rather, who will finally get their way? I have no idea, but as Guillem wrote here the other day: What is clear is that there are divisions within the internal relationships at Real Madrid and as those relationships deteriorate, they could do serious damage to Real's hopes of retaining the La Liga title this season – and in the meantime leaves the rest of us wondering what on earth is going on….
 

Lee Watson

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