Real Madrid Willing to Pay For Udinese Midfielder Gaetano D'Agostino

The Udinese have confirmed that Real Madrid are interested in signing their midfielder Gaetano D'Agostino for at least a €25 million buyout clause that he has, or a cash plus player swap stipulation.

Udinese president Giampaolo Pozzo said, "I confirm that they (Real) are interested."

"My son was set to meet them yesterday but he was unable to so we postponed everything until next week. The buy-out clause of the player remains the same, €25 million, but there's always room to reason. There are players they have that could interest us. It's an open negotiation."

D'Agostino is under contract with Udinese until 2014, but has expressed his desire to play for the nine-time European champions.

"It's the dream of any player to play at Real Madrid.They have a spectacular team. That is why I'm nervous and excited. I thank Real for their interest, I am happy, but there's nothing official just yet."

Who is Gaetano D'Agostino?

This 27 year old player is described as a good passer of the ball and his ability to create chances upfront. He also has command in goal-scoring from the midfield.

He has represented Roma, Bari, Messina, and now Udinese in his senior career beginning from 2000, which has spanned a total of 232 games, scoring 34 goals in the process. The most coming for Udinese with 13 goals in his 3 seasons at the club.

He was swapped by Roma and Bari with Antonio Cassano joining Roma, and both the clubs having ownership of the player.

He was instrumental in Messina's seventh place finish at the end of 2004-05, which is quite a feat for a newly promoted club.

It was at Udinese however that he made his regular place. He played 94 games for the Bianconeri.

On the international front, he has been part of the U-21 side for Italy since 2002, but has only made one appearance against Northern Ireland for the Azzurri.

Challenge of signing

Real Madrid would face the battle of acquiring the player from Juventus. The Old Lady had been in the picture to bring in the player to possibly replace Nedved, but the bid was rejected by Udinese because it was too low.

Another contender in the past had been Liverpool, who were rumoured to be looking for  D'Agostino if Real Madrid got their long time interest Xabi Alonso to bring in to the Bernabeu.

The deadline for signing D'Agostino was believed to be July 6 but that could be extended now that the talks have reached a crucial stage.

Good deal?

In my opinion, its not a good deal. We would be better off in pursuing a defensive midfielder rather than a midfielder who is better at going upfront and creating chances.

We already have quite an impressive lineup going upfront with Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema in the bag. Except for the new signings, we would most certainly retain quite a few of the earlier squad members (which is still not clear). Raul would be the choice upfront unless Pellegerini could do the improbable and bench the legend, which would be the correct decision if the 2008-09 season is to be seen.

Xabi Alonso would be a better choice for me. He has the ability to hold up play as well as move the ball around, covering the whole width of the pitch. Not to forget he can score some beauties from the half-line which is something that could cause some serious problems for the opposition's goal keepers.

Except for the formation issues, the asking price is too steep for Gaetano D'Agostino. We should rather look for some cheaper options to strengthen the defense if Alonso deal does break through.

What do you guys think? Leave your comments below.

- The writer of this post blogs at 90 Minutes on The Pitch!