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Real Madrid's interest in Bundesliga midfielder is ‘growing'

Real Madrid's interest in Bundesliga midfielder is ‘growing'

Yahoo3 days ago

Even though the summer transfer window is still a month away, Real Madrid have already shaken up the market, it seems.
The club have already announced the deal to sign Bournemouth prodigy Dean Huijsen while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alvaro Carreras deals are currently on the anvil.
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However, Real Madrid won't stop there. After reinforcing the defence, the club are now actively looking for reinforcements in the midfield unit.
Growing interest in Angelo Stiller
To that end, a recent report from MARCA suggests that there is a growing interest within the Real Madrid camp on Angelo Stiller.
Currently plying his trade for Stuttgart, the former Bayern prodigy has impressed onlookers with his stellar performances in the Bundesliga.
A defensive midfielder by trade, Stiller is a feisty operator who can offer versatility and aggression in the middle of the park.
Angelo Stiller may emerge as a serious option for Real Madrid this summer (Photo by)
Real Madrid's interest in Stiller is hardly surprising as new coach Xabi Alonso is well aware of his abilities, having seen him closely in the Bundesliga.
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Moreover, the report suggests that Real Madrid are looking for players who are less star-studded and more attuned to team work. At the same time, Real Madrid want to make sure these players can provide enough quality.
In addition, the Spanish giants are ideally looking for players that will not attract a €100 million price-tag.
Angelo Stiller, to that end, ticks all the boxes and could emerge as a serious candidate for Real Madrid as they look to beef up their options in the middle of the park.
A prank by one of Stiller's teammates is already going viral, fuelling further speculation about a potential move to Santiago Bernabeu this summer.

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Ben Greenhalgh won a TV show, joined Mourinho's Inter and lost his Champions League medal on a golf course
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Ben Greenhalgh won a TV show, joined Mourinho's Inter and lost his Champions League medal on a golf course

'And next he's gonna meet the big boss, Jose Mourinho. I think it will finally sink in that he's an Inter Milan player when he's given that shirt,' Jamie Redknapp, the former England midfielder and Sky presenter, says. Ben Greenhalgh laughs as he remembers what happens next. 'I nearly leave Mourinho hanging in a minute!' Advertisement We are watching a rerun of Football's Next Star, the television show that was broadcast on Sky One in 2010 with the prize of a six-month contract at Inter for the winner. More than 7,000 boys entered before being whittled down to the final 10, who stayed together in a villa overlooking Lake Como. 'Every week, it was a case of, 'We want to be here next week, and that's all we were fighting for',' Greenhalgh says. 'I don't think we were ever fighting for who was going to win.' Essentially, it was football's version of the X Factor with Marco Monti, the technical director at Inter's academy, playing the role of Simon Cowell. 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'Everything was high-flying because they were on for the treble at this time – they've got through the group stage in the Champions League, they're in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia and they're top of the league as well. It was some experience.' Inter created history by winning all three competitions, and although Greenhalgh played for the reserves and the under-18s rather than the first team, he was in the right place at the right time when it came to the Champions League final against Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu. 'Before the final, we played a game at Real Madrid City (the Spanish club's training ground) against Bayern Munich,' he says. 'It was called the 'UEFA Under-18 Challenge', and that's now become the UEFA Youth League. We also won 2-0 (the same scoreline as the first team). 'Some of us then travelled with the match-day squad, staying in the team hotel, and then sitting just behind them at the game. Just being able to experience those types of matches was ridiculous, really.' And what about the medal? 'We managed to get one because… they were just handing them out in the changing room afterwards!' Greenhalgh says, smiling. All of which explains why the supporters at non-League side Margate, who play in the Isthmian League South East Division (the eighth tier of English football), sing what they do on a match day. 'Champions League, he's won that too. Now he's at Margate, playing in blue.' Advertisement Greenhalgh, who is the player-manager at Margate, breaks into laughter. 'That's a good song. I've had some bad songs,' he says. 'At Tonbridge Angels – and I loved it when I was there – I'm about to take a free kick on the edge of the area, and they go, 'We got Super Ben Greenhalgh, he runs around the park…' 'I'm listening to it thinking, 'Oh wow, I've got a song.' 'And then they go, 'He looks like (British TV celebrity) Rylan Clark', and I think, 'Oh no!'' 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Greenhalgh's list of clubs, in order, reads: His time at Inter jumps off the page and, naturally, is a constant source of ribbing on the non-League circuit. 'I get banter all the time about it,' says Greenhalgh, who is also the academy director at Dartford Town, whose first team are one league above Margate. 'When it comes down to it, it's always going to be the thing that I'll be known for. It's been 15 years and it's still memorable.' Looking back, the fact that he joined Inter via a reality TV show was always going to pose challenges for him in Italy. There was even a wrangle at the outset between Welling and Inter, Greenhalgh recalls, over whether the non-League club were entitled to a transfer fee for him, delaying his registration. 'Welling started asking Inter for £100,000,' he says. Advertisement Greenhalgh also felt under added pressure to prove himself, not helped by the way the reserve team coach spoke about him in front of the other players. 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He rocked up in his Lamborghini for one game and he blocked the gateway for the coach to come in. The coach driver gets out and says, 'Can someone move this?' And he just said, 'No.' So they ended up having to park down the road and all their players had to walk.' As for Mourinho, Greenhalgh was fascinated by his approach. 'Interestingly, he wouldn't run training sessions too much. But you respected him because of his aura. Everything he said, you believed. 'I couldn't believe the manner that the players worked so hard for him, but then also how relaxed training was. There was no intensity to training. But then loads of tactical information, and then absolutely 100 miles an hour on a match day.' Realistically, Greenhalgh was never going to make it at first-team level at Inter, although he does sometimes wonder whether he should have stayed for longer at Como, where he spent half a season on loan and enjoyed his football. Instead, he came back to England in search of a professional club but was left with the feeling that he had been out of sight and out of mind in Italy. It was a different story for Connor Smith, the Irishman who finished second to Greenhalgh in Football's Next Star. 'I still speak to Connor, he's Barnet's assistant manager and they've had a brilliant year (winning promotion to the Football League),' Greenhalgh says. 'After we finished the show, me and Connor trained with Watford for four months because my contract (with Inter) didn't begin until January. I was still back and forth to Italy, but more for the camera stuff. Connor managed to get himself a deal at Watford and that probably propelled his career in England. And I think that's the one thing I always struggled with: my career never took off in England.' Greenhalgh ended up in Scotland at one stage, playing for the former England captain Terry Butcher at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, although it was another sport that grabbed his attention there. 'I was always a reasonable golfer,' he says. 'I was something like a 12 handicapper. But Scotland completely changed me.' Advertisement In fact, he spent so much time on the golf course in Scotland that he turned professional in 2015. Two years later, Greenhalgh posted a picture on Twitter showing him finishing first at a pro-am tournament. 'I ended up winning a little bit of money, but I was still a footballer playing golf,' he says. Over the moon to win my first PGA professional golf competition & to break the course record! Still hasn't sunk in Thanks to @TheAddingtonGC — Ben Greenhalgh (@BenGreenhalgh) July 14, 2017 That much was clear to anyone who played golf against him – and not because of his swing. Greenhalgh – and he shakes his head when he tells this story – used his Champions League winners' medal as a golf marker for a while. 'I took it off the ribbon mainly because I think, when I was young… it was brilliant, but I felt like I hadn't played in it (the final). So we were doing it as a laugh with my friends, just as a story to try and get in other golfers' heads. Like, 'Oh, what's that?' Because everyone uses medallions anyway. 'But it went missing at Aldenham Golf Club and, luckily, I knew the pro, who'd had it handed in. When I look back now, I think I was an absolute idiot doing those sorts of things. From there, I got it back on the ribbon, put it in a glass box and it's at my mum and dad's house now.' Greenhalgh hopes that Inter get their hands on the famous trophy again on Saturday, when they face Paris Saint-Germain in Munich in the Champions League final. There are similarities, he says, between the current side and Mourinho's team. 'They're hardworking and they've got that tenacity where when things are going badly for other teams, they really jump on it. They're almost bullies – and that's what the Inter team were under Mourinho. 'I look back at it now and that was an unbelievable Inter team. But I do think they overachieved – they beat 2010 Barcelona in the semi-final! But that was when Mourinho was at his finest.' It was also when Greenhalgh was living the dream. (Credit: Ben Greenhalgh)

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