Real Madrid’s Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain, the club’s top scorer last season, is unfazed by the prospect of facing more competition for a place in the starting line-up due to the arrival of stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
“Very good players have joined the squad and it will be hard to earn a starting spot. We’ll have to do our best and show the coach he can count on all of us,” he said at the club’s pre-season training camp at Maynooth near Dublin.
“It naturally makes me happy when people want me on the starting 11, but we must respect the choice of other players. I will fight hard to be a starter, but the coach ultimately decides what to do,” the 21-year-old added.
New Real coach Manuel Pellegrini has lined up Benzema, who joined the club from French side Lyon for a reported fee of between 35 and 41 million euros earlier this month, and Real captain Raul as strikers during training.
But Spain’s sports press have reported that Higuain, a fan favourite, still has a chance to be in the starting line-up if Pellegrini decides to play 4-4-2 where he can partner with Benzema or Ronaldo.
Real have spent around 220 million euros (305 million dollars) on new recruits since construction magnate Florentino Perez returned to the presidency of the club last month.
In addition to Ronaldo and Benzema, the club have signed Spain’s Raul Albiol and Brazil’s Kaka.
“We have new players of the highest order, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have any before. Those who have joined us this summer did a lot at their previous clubs and we hope they do the same at Real Madrid,” said Higuain.
Real will play a friendly match against current Irish champions Shamrock Rovers on July 20, two days before its training camp in Ireland ends.
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