Pedja Mijatovic was the first guest of a new television programme that will feature important personalities at the Club. Real Madrid's Sporting Director thanked Ramón Calderón for the confidence he's always had in him and, amongst other things, talked about the team's signings and transfers.

Real Madrid have won two titles since June 2007. Is this what you wanted when you arrived?
Ramón Calderón and I met before entering the election campaign and talked about a sporting project and what we would encounter and do in said project. Most of the things we set ourselves to do have happened in the last two years. Nobody thought the team would win two consecutive league titles and a Super Cup, and would change a generation of players on the team with so many signings and transfers in just two years. I want to take this chance to thank Ramón Calderón for the confidence he's had in me since day one. Many presidents promise you will make all the decisions and I asked him about it. Calderón has never had a say in the signings and transfers, and we are very proud of that. Our President allows us to do our job and make our own decisions. He is also very demanding.

Twenty signings have been made and 19 men have been transferred in the last two years. It must have been tough...
It's been complicated. I am the Sporting Director, but there are many people that work with me to make Real Madrid a competitive team. We've made some complicated decisions, but time has shown we were right. It's all been for the better. My job is complicated because, as a football team, everything we do has a degree of importance in the rest of the world. We always knew what we wanted to do. The situation we were in two years ago was complicated because the team had great players but failed to win a single title in three years. That was very worrying for Real Madrid. We didn't have much time to plan ahead and we were a bit worried about it. No one had ever made so many changes on the team upon arrival. We knew what we had to do and we made some decisions that weren't too popular at the time. We may have made some mistakes -we haven't done everything right-, but all the decisions we've made will improve on the sporting project and on the squad we have.

The Club's philosophy has been reborn and the arrival of men like Valter di Salvo and Javier Lozano, and the medical agreement reached with Sanitas -amongst other things- have helped improve on the daily work the team does.
Sure. We made our own decisions as soon as we started working at the Club. These decisions have never been personal; they've always been made for the future of Real Madrid because many Club Members follow what happens here on a daily basis. We've replaced some players, talking to them about it and explaining the reasons behind our decision to let them go. We've never done somehting without letting the players know first. We've improved on the team's organisation; a big team must be organised in order to do a good job and earn positive results. Valter di Salvo has helped improve both on the preparation and on the recovery of players. Schedules in modern football have many fixtures and few days off, making training and recovery equally important. Javier Lozano is also doing a spectacular job. He keeps people informed about everything that goes on at the Club and tells us what we should do to improve. They have both helped in making this club more organised. Everyone has his say here. We get together to discuss different ideas and we accept them.

Training in the Algarve was one of those new ideas...
Several other clubs have asked us about it because they've seen it was truly a positive experience. I've talked to the players about it and they all give positive feedback. Experiences like this help unite the squad. We can boast of having both quality players and a proper team of professionals. We work hard every day to make them happy. You can't do a better job than the one we do here and that makes me very happy and gets me excited because I believe Real Madrid has a bright future and I am proud of being part of the best club in the world. But we are not going to stop at that. We have to work even harder to win more titles.

Real Madrid has the youngest squad in Spain and the second youngest in Europe behind Arsenal's. That must have taken a long time to achieve...
We are the youngest team in Spanish football. We've given young people a chance, but we did sign several experienced players at the beginning, when he hardly had time to make any proper plans. Those who have arrived since then have been youngsters that will guarantee this will be a competitive team in years to come. We will continue to look for success and win titles with young players.

Pepe is a good example. People criticised his signing because he cost a lot of money, but time has proven you were right all along.
That's a good example. Pepe proved to be worthy of a spot at Real Madrid in the few games he played last year. My duty as Sporting Director is to see things before football fans and the media do. Everyone's tastes are different, but the Sporting Director has to make up his mind much earlier than people think. That's what we've done these last two years and we will continue to do so. Pepe is a clear example of this. I had seen him play and knew that his style, personality and professional character would make him fit in. You do your best to sign players that embody all these values. When a signing pays off, people get excited about it. It was the right move.

How do you deal with the pressure of having to win titles?
It isn't easy to work under such pressure, knowing you have to win titles every year. I had the pleasure of chatting with Arsène Wenger when we were in London and he congratulated us for making complicated decisions that have paid off in the last couple of years, and for managing to come up with a young and competitive team. He told me they aren't obliged to win a title every year. This means it isn't easy to work with such pressure, but we're not afraid of it. We are convinced of working in the interest of Real Madrid. We want the team to compete with the best clubs in the world. We are on the right path. Every new player needs time to adapt and learn what Real Madrid is all about. I tell our young players that they haven't signed just for two or three years, but that we want them to be with us at least five. This, plus the greatness of the Club, eases their minds. They must understand that they've signed onto a long-term project.

The team's average age has been reduced thanks to 20 signings and 19 tranfers.
That's what we wanted form the start and we are proud of it. We've managed to achieve most of the things we wanted to do when we arrived, but there's many more still. Great players may not be successfull if they lack a professional and competitive character, as well as the ability to adhere to the Club's organisation. I'm not surprised by the two consecutive league titles and our comeback against Valencia in the Super Cup with just nine men because we have great players who want to make history here. The atmosphere at the Club is excellent.

Fans are wondering about several players that have been mentioned this summer, such as David Villa.
We made an offer to Valencia because the coach, the fans and I like the player. Valencia made a counter-offer that made no sense to us and we decided to back down in order to avoid doing something crazy. We know the football market very well; unlike other markets, it has no stable prices. These are decided depending on the moment, the circumstances, the shape the player's in and many other things. That's what makes the football world so special and beautiful. We simply thought it was absurd to pay what Valencia asked for.

Santi Cazorla was also mentioned this summer...
Before signing a player, one has to be aware of his contractual situation. We found out there was a clause on his contract, but on the other hand, this is a gentlemen's club and the President personally ordered me not to interfere with any club. Real Madrid isn't a great club just for the nine European Cups, 31 league titles and other trophies its won, but also for other things. Several elements come into play when you pay for a footballer's clause and we decided not to sign Cazorla in order to avoid conflict and making any mistakes. I think it was the right decision. Besides building the squad we also have to be good administrators because we work with money that doesn't belong to us. Some teams in Europe are owned by rich people, which probably makes these situations different for them. We work with the money of our Club Members and we are forced to know the market well. We are not going to make any crazy decisions. We want to do things we can be proud of.

Transfering players is also difficult. Real Madrid has managed to transfer many of its players to other great teams.
Real Madrid has always signed important players that are willing to make it big here and of doing what we expect of them. Nevertheless, you can never be completely sure that a player that's had a great five-year run at another club will continue to play that well for you. We always try to find a way out for a great player that, despite his will to succeed, has been unable to adapt to the Club's philosophy and demands. Many players have joined other competitive sides in the last couple of years. I respect them all. I believe they are all still great footballers, but they simply didn't fit in with Real Madrid's philosophy.

People with a lot of money are entering the football scene. How will Real Madrid deal with this situation?
We're not worried about it. We know what we want and how we have to work for it. With all due respect to other sides, no other club can compare itself with Real Madrid because of its greatness, its history, what it represents and the titles it's won. I have no problem with rich people buying football clubs because we are not going to compete with them. We know what we can do for a player besides offering money; it's something special no other team has. I think that will always be something in players' minds when they think about joining us. That's what happened to me when I left Valencia; a player has to value everything and usually discards money for the chance of being part of an important club where he can make history and win titles. I'm not worried because great players -true champs- who want to be truly successful. I'm sure they won't have any doubts when offered to chose between a lucrative contract and joining Real Madrid.

Real Madrid always respected Manchester United during the Cristiano Ronaldo affair.
Many things were said that weren't true. As the best team in the world, we respect other sides and we will never work against their interests. We approached Mancheter United and they told us they don't want the player to leave. We tried to sign Cristiano Ronaldo but got a negative response. The player said he wanted to join us, but couldn't. Many peple ask us when he is going to come, but it isn't as simple as handing the money and bringing him over. The club where he's at must be willing to tranfer him. Our arms are open for great players who want to join us and whose clubs are willing to tranfer them, but if that's not the case we do nothing about it. I might add that we'll be able to work well without Ronaldo and Villa, the same as we did well without Kaka during our first year. Real Madrid is above all players, even if they are the best in the world. We have to work hard and know what we really want.

Club Members would like to know how much money the Club has earned with the transfers.
I don't like to talk about money. I can only say that we invested an important sum in the first two years because an important change had to be made. From then onwards we began to think about how to make money from transfers of first team and Castilla players. We never lost the right to recover any Castilla player that left us. We've made a lot of money in the past two years and we will invest more next year. Real Madrid is a competitive team made up of great professional players with a bright future ahead of them.

The team has Higuaín, Saviola, Raúl and Van Nistelrooy as strikers. How do you feel when people say the team lacks strikers?
We have four strikers and I don't believe any other team can boast of having so many players with goal-scoring instincts. Some play more than others, but that's normal. We also have great offensive power in midfield: Sneijder can score 5 or 6 goals in one year, and we also have Guti, Robben and new signing Van der Vaart. They are all great players. We shouldn't be worried about the team's goal-scoring ability; we were the top-scoring team last season.

Why did Robinho leave Real Madrid?
Robinho made a great mistake by publicly saying he wanted to leave the Club and that he wasn't as excited about playing as he used to be... Madridismo can't forgive something like that. Compromise, devotion, drive and team spirit have been the foundations of our success in the last two years. Robinho never talked about the possibility of staying on the team during the meetings he held with the coach, the President and myself... It was obvious he had to leave.

Who's to blame, Robinho or his entourage?
That doesn't matter now. A great player like Robinho disrespects his teammates, the coach and the fans when he publicly says he doesn't want to play here. This didn't fit with our philosophy. I decided to sell him as soon as I realised it would be hard to make him fit in again. We made an important sale and we wish him all the best with his new team. We only think about the players we have.

Are De la Red and Javi García signings?
Yes, they were signed this year. They were bred in the academy and played very well on other teams last season. Rubén even won the Euro 2008 with Spain. We've decided to count on them because they are young and quality players. We also signed Rafael van der Vaart -a player of tremendous skill- and Garay, who is currently loaned out to Racing and will join us next year. It may seem we haven't made any signings, but we've actually acquired the services of four excellent players.

Will the Club make any more signings during the winter transfer window?
We have 24 players on the squad, when most teams in Spain have 21 or 22. We don't intend to sign any more players in January, but you never know in football. We must continue with the current squad and give the players all of our confidence.

How is your relationship with Bernd Schuster and Miguel Ángel Portugal?
I have an excellent relationship with Schuster. We are the two people in charge of the sports section and talk about the present and the future of the team every day. It is a magnificent relationship. What's been publsihed simply isn't true. We understand each other and we've never had any problems. It's natural to disagree sometimes, but we've agreed on every decision that's been made. My relationship with Portugal is also good. His job consists on sending out international and national scouts to look for young players that may help us in the future. There really is nothing wrong. There is a positive and healthy atmosphere at the Club. All the problems we've had have been resolved internally.

Is the team ready to fight for three titles?
Without a doubt. The players know each other better this year. We had some problems last season because men such as Robben and Heinze arrived late and hardly played in the pre-season, but the entire team has been together during this year's summer work. We have a competitive side capable of playing at a high level in the Champions League, so we shouldn't be worried. We've achieved something important: having a young team that's hungry for titles. There are great professional players on the squad, which means this team is perfectly capable of thrilling it fans.