Valdano: Huntelaar wasn`t good enough for Madrid

Real Madrid sold half of its Dutch colony this summer. Technical secretary Jorge Valdano explained why his club decided to sell Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben.

Valdano denied that Madrid sold the Dutch internationals for economical reasons: `That wasn`t the main reason, ` the Argentine said to Dutch paper De Telegraaf.

Madrid`s technical secretary said that the decision to sell the players was mainly based on technical reasons: `Klaas-Jan is a good striker but he`s not good enough for Real.

He`s under the level of first choice Karim Benzema en second choice Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy. With Milan we found an international top club for him.`

Wesley Sneijder did manage to reach Madrid`s high level, according to Valdano: `But after the arrival of Xabi Alonso and Esteban Granero we had to many offensive midfielders.

An analysis proved Wesley was redundant. At the same time it proved we would be able to sell him for a high transfer fee, because he`s still a top player. I think Internazionale is the right club for him.`

Arjen Robben wasn`t forced to leave the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. `But in advance, before the season started, he didn`t accept a less dominant role at Madrid,` Valdano added.

`His father came along and claimed a place in the starting eleven for Arjen. We couldn`t meet that claim. Robben would have certainly been in the starting line up on a regular basis.

However, sometimes he would start on the bench because he`s also able to decide matches coming off the bench. But he couldn`t accept that role.`