Frustrated Saviola seeks Real Madrid exit

Argentine forward Javier Saviola says his lack of playing time at Real Madrid is “intolerable” and has expressed a desire to leave the club.

“I find these times very hard, because despite my efforts in training, I receive no reward in terms of minutes on the pitch,” the 27-year-old told the Spanish newspaper Marca in an interview published on Saturday.

He added that, having unsuccessfully petitioned Real’s previous coach, Bernd Schuster, for more game time, he was disappointed to find that things did not change under new coach Juande Ramos, who arrived on December 9.

“I spoke with Juande to find out what was happening. It was a very cordial conversation and we agreed to say that it was nothing personal,” the striker declared.

Asked about the subject on Saturday, Ramos dryly responded that if Saviola wanted to play “every Sunday”, he would have to “find an inferior team”, apparently opening the way for the player to leave.

According to Ramos, the Argentinian, who arrived from Barcelona in the summer of 2007, has not yet reached the level of the club’s first-choice players.

Saviola, whose annual salary is around 2.5 million euros, revealed that he was tempted to leave the club during the winter break.

“The club imposed a number of conditions for my departure,” he said. “But everything has been complicated by the resignation of the president last week, which meant the directors decided to leave things as they were.”

Former president Ramon Calderon stepped down on January 16 amidst allegations of vote-rigging and was replaced by vice-president Vicente Boluda, who is expected to remain in the post until new elections take place in the summer.