Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez has "prepared a Christmas present for the Real's youth academy," according to Hugo Cerezo of MARCA. The youth players' residence "will open after the Christmas break." Players from outside Madrid "will live in Valdebebas," a district of Madrid, starting Jan. 8. The building work is "at an advanced stage." The directors of Real Madrid’s "La Fábrica" ("The Factory") academy and its players "will move in there in barely two months' time." The academy players will leave the residence "where they have lived for the past two years." However, they will still have to "attend the same school every day until the end of the academic year and will have to travel the almost 40km every morning." Another possibility is that the youngsters' residence be used "as a meeting place" for Real Madrid's junior team, Real Madrid Castilla (MARCA, 11/12).
SANTIAGO BERNABÉU: In Madrid, P. Polo reported the "project to renovate the Bernabéu stadium is still being studied." Real Madrid has hired construction firm Bovis to study the four "possible remodeling projects under consideration." Bovis will "decide which is the best project -- as much for aesthetic as for its capacity to exploit the stadium's resources." While waiting for Bovis to "make its final report and Pérez to give the final word, the negotiations for the stadium's partial title sponsorship are ongoing" (MARCA, 11/12).
