Biscan, you are right that Alonso came off the back of a couple of 'bad' seasons, but he was still an immense talent. Lucas was correct that I was alluding to what Rafa wanted for Alonso back then. In the end he did go for about £25 million. Let's put that in context: that's around what United got Anderson for, and approximately half of what Chelsea paid for Torres. Alonso has become and absolutely integral part of the league-winning Real team and, perhaps, with the possible exception of Ronaldo, their most important player. He is labelled (as most Liverpool fans agree) as one of the best passers in the world, and Madrid got him for £25 million. They paid £50 million for Kaka, who seems to be their version of Chelsea's Shevchenko. At the time I, personally, felt we should have got more for Alonso and I still do. P.S. My 'sign of the times' quip directly followed my lament over the high prices of today's footballers, to which it referred.
