Is La Liga Real Madrid’s to lose this season?

Whilst much of the focus of this summer’s transfer activity has been on Manchester City and their lavish purchases, their predecessors as Europe’s biggest spenders have hardly been shy with their cheque book either. Mesut Özil’s arrival at the Bernabeu yesterday took Real Madrid’s spending in this transfer window to €88 million and signals a very real intent to wrestle La Liga title back off Barcelona, as well as to re-establish their Champions League credentials following last season’s second round exit.

Of course this summer’s spending was always going to pale into comparison with what went before it twelve months ago. Although Manchester City appear to be giving it a good go, the arrival of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso in the same transfer window would hard to better. However, Florentino Pérez’s Galacticos project is still alive and well, with the arrival of Özil following that of Sami Khedira, Angel de Maria, Pedro Leon and Ricardo Carvalho; high quality reinforcements to compliment an already strong side.

With the squad that Mourinho, hailed as “the best coach in the world” by Özil on his arrival, now has at his disposal, anything less than La Liga title is unlikely to suffice in his first season. The squad is of a strength that the likes of Mahamadou Diarra, Lassana Diarra, Rafael van der Vaart and Fernando Gago are all deemed surplus to requirements and are likely to be offloaded before the close of the transfer window, whilst Mourinho is likely to be left with some selection headaches if all the players he has at his disposal are fit and available for selection.

However, Barcelona won’t give up their crown easily. Once again, their summer spending has been dwarfed by that of their bitter rivals, with David Villa and Adriano the only notable arrivals to date. In fact, so content is Pep Guardiola that his squad is in the right shape, he told the board that he did not require Özil, despite a bid having been prepared. Guardiola will need Villa to make more of an impression than Zlatan Ibrahimovic did last season, but this aside he may well be right to have such conviction in his squad’s abilities.  

Whilst there is no doubting the significance of the arrival of Özil, Khedira and co., the difference for Real this season is likely to be Mourinho. Despite leading Real to within three points of the title last season, Manuel Pellegrini often looked to be struggling under the weight of expectation at the Bernabeu, not helped by the club’s early Champions League exit. Mourinho reputation precedes itself and his stock rose even higher following his European triumph with Inter, especially in Madrid given his side’s semi-final defeat of Barcelona.

All things considered, expectation levels will be sky high amongst the Madridstas and Real will need hit the ground running come 29^th August at Mallorca, although many will supporters will have one eye on the fixture at the Nou Camp on 28^th November. Spain’s World Cup triumph coupled with what many hope will be a resurgent Madrid, means that this season has all the makings of a classic. Pep Guardiola and his Barcelona will be under no illusions as to the challenge they face in retaining their title.