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HEL-REY-ZOR SPANISH stars Ivan Helguera and Jose Antonio Reyes have both been told they can leave Real Madrid. Manager Juan Lopez Caro stated that both players no longer feature in his plans at the club, despite Reyes in particular, only joining the club at the start of the season as part of a deal which saw Italian forward Antonio Cassano join Arsenal. The former Sevilla forward has struggled to re-adjust on his return to Spain and has had little first team chances at Real. The arrival of Dirk Kuyt has seen him fall even further behind in the pecking order. The Dutchman's goalscoring form has emulated that of his time at Feyenoord in Holland. After he and Helguera have been placed on the transfer list, the only interest to have been reported, was a £6,000,000 bid from rivals Valencia who are ever looking to improve their midfield options. The source had no foundation and it was apparent that the bid was knocked back and negotiations fell through between both parties. Jose Reyes hasn't ruled out a return to England and admitted shortly after hearing the unsettling news that he enjoyed it in London to an extent, but regrets giving up on making a success out of it. "I had high hopes when Arsenal signed me from Sevilla and was optimistic about making a successful career in England. It's a great country to play football. The fans are so passionate over there and the league is very fast and high paced. That was difficult to get used to, but I managed to adopt it's nature of play. I thought I was making the right decision by taking this chance to return to the country where I really made my name. I'm disappointed I haven't been able to make an impact. I think moving back to England being sure of plenty of regular appearences can get me back to my best form." Ivan Helguera has been one of the clubs long serving players of the last decade, spending half of it with the club, but has fallen in the pecking order himself thanks to Caro's signings such as Mahamadou Diarra and Tim Borowski and Fredrik Ljungberg in particular. Helguera has vowed to stay and fight for his place at the club despite not appearing even as a substitute in their league campaign so far. However, Jose Reyes has been told if he can prove his capabilities at this level he may resurrect a future with the club. The Cup may be his only way of producing the goods as Caro has often chosen what he feels are his weaker teams in the competition. Helguera meanwhile, has struggled to even make the Cup sixteen and almost definately seems to be on his way sooner rather than later. DEFENDERS
"DROGBA'S DECISION IS NO CONCERN TO ME" Mourinho claims suggestions that he should be concerned about Drogba's departure are "stupid" IVORY COAST international Didier Drogba has apparently handed in a transfer request in order to leave Stamford Bridge. His agent revealed last night that the Chelsea striker is looking to leave London and play his football abroad once again. His lack of first team opportunities in the ECS Master League this season has forced him to give out this astonishing ultimatum, which Jose Mourinho claims is no concern to him if the player leaves or not. The arrivals of players such as Ronaldo and Lukas Podolski has seen him fall down the pecking order and he's barely made a start all season. He claimed his annoyance comes from the fact he believes Chelsea would be in a much better league position had he been able to play and score goals for the club in ECS. Ronaldo has never been able to show the player he was since joining Chelsea and has scored just four goals so far this league term. He reckons he could've scored the goals their strike force has lacked to propell them into a higher position. Jose Mourinho is far from happy with the club's seventh place and a total of just five wins, but disagrees with Drogba that his scoring touch has been missed and that their league position would be better if he'd been playing. Eidur Gudjohnsen has started edging himself into the first team with his goals and Drogba is disappointed he hasn't been given the same chance to prove his worth as the Icelandic striker. "I'm no longer happy to sit on the bench wondering when I'll be on the pitch again. It's become too frustrating for me now and I need to be in top condition, that includes match practice. I don't want to carry on playing in England. I want to be abroad like I was at Marseille. I am prepared to start looking at other options and my agent is going to help. I've handed in my transfer request and as hoped, it was accepted. It comes as no surprise to me either that it was rejected. Another thing is that I'm disliked in this country now. People think I dive and cheat during matches and it hurts. That is my reason for not wanting to remain in England to play my football." Mourinho also expressed his views on the matter insisting Drogba is not needed at the club and that if he was supposed to be worried or disappointed that he's going to leave, he wants to know why. Mourinho believes if Chelsea needed him they'd be playing him more often and it shouldn't cause concern for him about his departure. "Didier hasn't been in my plans for a while now. I haven't made that clear to anyone or him about this because I like players to react and see what sort of attitude and approach they make to it and Didier has failed the test. I like fighters. I like players who accept and respect a manager's choices and decisions and who accept defeat and not run scared. Didier is not prepared to stay and fight. Eidur has done this and he has succeeded. He should follow Eidur's example. I could also point him in the direction of Klose at Werder Bremen. Everyone seems to think I should be concerned that we're losing a striker like Didier. But I ask...Why? Why do I need to be concerned? He hasn't played all season so why should I be worried about losing a player I don't even pick? It's completely stupid. It doesn't make sense. He isn't needed, he isnt't playing yet we should be worried about him leaving? Ah these people should be shot. They never know what they're talking about." FC Porto however, have shown their interest in Didier Drogba. Manager Co Adriaanse is desperately trying to land a prolific striker at the club which he believes would be the final piece of the jigsaw to complete what is a deadly line-up on paper. Theo Walcott's loan contract was terminated and he was sent back to Arsenal. Werder Bremen's Nelson Haedo Valdez and Inter's Julio Cruz have both been taken on as loan strikers, but still Adriaanse isn't satisfied. He sees Drogba as the main man for the job he wants of leading his attack and being the main frontman at the club. He claims he's made several requests to the executives to boost the available transfer funds, but they're reluctant to allow anymore money to go into the transfer budget. Chelsea will not be looking for the whole £24,000,000 they paid for the former Marseille striker. Mourinho says he wants considerably less than that, which could probably be just a little more than the £10,000,000 mark. DEFENDERS
THE ALLARDYCE TRAP Madrid new boy Kevin Nolan denies that his signing is to lure Sam Allardyce INCREASING speculation continues to link Bolton manager Sam Allardyce to the Real Madrid job. The current stand-in manager Juan Lopez Caro is under sever pressure and will be for the rest of the season, to deliver in order to secure the job permanently. He has a huge task ahead of him in the league to finish in an acceptable position, but his only real hope right now lies in the ECS Cup. The club take on Arsenal on the 14th in the first leg of the quarter finals. A 7-1 thrashing over Fenerbahce in their final group game impressed the Madrid board, but it's nowhere near enough to land the job they indicated. Sam Allardyce has made no intentions to hide his desire of managing a top European club abroad and with Real keeping tabs on him, It's likely Bolton will be searching for a new manager if they appraoach. After missing out on the England job to Steve McClaren, Allardyce was obviously disappointed, but still didn't rule out becoming the coach of a major club in the future. He has done wonders with Bolton, which has turned him into a sought after character. Real have recently signed Bolton captain Kevin Nolan. Many find it an unorthadox purchase and see it as a stunt to lure Allardyce to the club. Caro admitted he was under slight pressure to sign Nolan and didn't take a huge part in the signing. It clear indicates a strange sense of suspicion. The media have targetted the club and believe the signing is in no way an intention of improving the squad and they cannot see Nolan making a impact at such a big stage. Real Madrid currently lie in eleventh place in the league having won five games of the ten they've played, losing the other five. It'll be required that the club mount a massive league improvement in the second half of the season. Even Cup success this season might not be enough to save Juan Caro's job as permanent manager. Kevin Nolan has told the press he is deeply onffended by comments being made that his transfer is a hoax and a stunt to land Allardyce as the next Madrid boss. He did in fact make it clear he'd love to work under him again if he came to the club, but insists he can play a major role at the club and help them towards securing a much better league position at the end of the season. Nolan's form for Bolton made him a fan choice for an England World Cup place but it was never to be and he is adamant that people don't expect him to cut it at the top level of football because he hasn't been able to show his capabilities at such a height before and is determined to show his form can be equally as effective in the company of Europe's finest. DEFENDERS
MORI LIFELINE SWIPED BY RAFA FERNANDO MORIENTES is another striker in a long line to be either signed by, or linked with Porto. The Spanish hitman was amazingly sent back to England after Werder Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf lost patience with his poor performances and turned his attentions to sign Arminia Bielefeld forward Abdelaziz Ahanhouf. It proved a key decision as the Morrocan came off the bench to bag the winner in their recent league win over Ajax. Porto have issued their interest in signing the player and hoped to take him up on loan, but Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez does not want to sent the player out on loan again. Morientes' career with Liverpool is well and truly over after the arrival of Welsh international Craig Bellamy who signed last week from Blackburn Rovers for a reported £5,000,000. Porto, like the Drogba situation, cannot afford to sign Morientes permanently and Co Adriaanse is disappointed Liverpool wont allow him to go back out on loan. "I am confident I could turn Morientes into the goalscorer he once was. I will keep onto Mr. Benitez about the situation to see if he can allow him to take on another loan spell. He wont right now as he believes it isn't good for the player mentally having already spent time in Germany, returning to England and would need to travel to Portugal again....Only to fly back to England once again if we still cannot sign him on a permanent basis. So I can see where the problem lies and it may be a bit much for the player to handle. It is a bit of a blow because I am really interested in bringing Morientes to the club. Once we get the funds, we will only be able to sign one of either Didier Drogba and Fernando Morientes. I am happy whichever one we get. And I'm sure I can sign one of them before the start of next season." Morientes has a traumatic time in Germany and only managed one goal in a series of starts in the opening month which saw doubts casting over the future of Miroslav Klose who was struggling to get off the bench because of Morientes, despite his poor form, and Ivan Klasnic who has been scoring goals for fun this season. Klose made an incredible comeback to convince Schaaf he is worth starting over Morientes and when the Klose and Klasnic partnership was back, the only strike force that seemed more deadly than those two were Milan's Fernando Torres and Andriy Shevchenko. Morientes was granted one last chance at one point to make an impression, but failed yet again. Despite his poor form, Co Adriaanse has insisted it has not decreased his opinion that he is a world class striker with plenty more goals still left in him.