Mijatovic: The Squad Is Stronger Than Last Year

Predrag Mijatovic believes that Real Madrid's squad is stronger this season than last term after their summer transfer dealings despite missing out on a variety of players.

The Spanish giants' sports director does not think that being unable to add either Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa or Santi Cazorla has affected the side and that the players that did join have improved the side.

Rafael Van der Vaart has enjoyd a good start after he moved from Hamburg while Rubén De la Red and Javi García have returned, but some fans have said they do not think that was enough.

"This summer we tried to sign various players to improve the quality of the squad, but we were never going to just sign players for the sake of it," Mijatovic told AS.

"We thought Cristiano would improve what we already had. The squad now though is better than last year.

"Although some may feel we did not sign many players, we bought Rafael Van der Vaart and brought back Rubén De la Red and Javi García.

"The latter two feels like new signings. Maybe some people felt that we should have signed more to make them feel we had made a real change.

"I do not believe that we failed to sign anyone. We knew that signing Cristiano would be impossible, not because of the economic side or because he did not want to, but because his club would not give a price and there there was no buy-out clause.

"Maybe we should have done something to stop the feeling that we had failed. The player made some statements but they were never clear and it was sounded like there was a slight chance. But we knew that there would be no deal.

"We did not speak to him because you cannot do that before speaking to the clubs and having not spoken to Manchester United we could not talk to him.

"I do not think it went wrong. He is a professional that has grown up with Manchester United and he owes the club and Ferguson a great deal."

Mijatovic then criticised Robinho for his lack of professionalism in forcing a move away from Real Madrid and explained why he felt that letting the player go was a good deal.

"He never said that that he wanted to come here clearly. We thought he wanted to come here, but he never said anything as obvious as Robinho did, which showed a lack of respect to Madrid and the fans," he continued.

"Therefore I value Cristiano's professionalism.

"Robinho had two years of contract remaining and we offered him a new deal, but he did not like that idea. Our plan was that he stayed.

"But now I can say that it was best for Madrid that he went. It is the most expensive sale in the club's history and it would have been a mistake not to accept it.

"We knew that he would not regain the confidence of the supporters and Chelsea would not raise their offer. He did not want to be here any long er so he went."