José María Gutiérrez Hernández, Guti for short, met with Jorge Valdano for lunch yesterday and notified the Real Madrid boss-man that there was interest from Inter Milan, that he'd like to leave in January, there are no hard feelings and no there's nothing to the rumors that he and Manuel Pellegrini aren't getting along. It's just time to move on apparently. He's sick of the speculation and the lies being printed in the press. Don't believe him. It's all an act.

When you've had your fill of speculation and lies, learn more and get an online MBA. You can learn and put yourself in a position to make more money.

It's sad really. At his best, he's a phenomenal talent, one of the last real fantasistas around, and if he had been able to grow up and grow into his talent at a club that nurtured him better, then maybe he would have realized his potential. Instead, he bounced around the first-team, at times as an attacking midfielder or a support striker and even in the holding role at the back. He played on either wing, but more often than not his role was just to the side at the captain's table, warming the sub's bench or as official greeter for the steady influx of galactic-level talent that came and went through the Santiago Bernabeu: Roberto Carlos, 2 Ronaldos, Clarence Seedorf, Kaka, Luis Figo and many others.

His club legacy for the most part is an embarrassment. Feuding with a laundry list managers from Luxemburgo who preferred Thomas Gravesen, Capello who preferred Beckham, Schuster who played him but couldn't control him, and Ramos who wouldn't and never tried. Through it all he played it with the bemused look of an idiot savant. He bled for the club, only he knew what it took to represent the shirt, and what it stood for, implying that the high-priced foreigners didn't. He talked a good game, a vocal leader for the uninitiated, but people who knew about the night-life and the years of "booze, birds, and fast cars" weren't surprised at the lack of consistency.

Don't think him the victim. This is a carefully orchestrated drama, a very successful one for Guti and Guti alone, where he does what he wants under the cover of being a club vice-captain. He angers the coach because of his lack of professionalism. He's benched. He draws out his friends in the media and in management. The pressure increases on the coach. He intimates that he'd like to leave. The coach gets fired sooner rather than later and the process begins anew with Guti still at the Bernabeu.

Think back to the last Champions League victory by Real Madrid. Who held the cup? Fernando Hierro. Club-captain and Real Madrid legend. Who succeeded him? Raul, who was his vice-captain. Who succeeded Raul as vice-captain? Guti. Is it that difficult to realize that 7 years of frustration for Real Madrid fans have coincided with 7 years of inconsistent club leadership? Guti can blame the coaches, and the foreigners who don't "understand the values of Real Madrid," but in the end, it's time for Guti (not them) to be gone, gone.


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