Real Madrid sign Juventus duo

Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson sign for the Spanish giants

Do my eyes deceive me? I think Real Madrid may just have made a sensible transfer deal.

Real's shaky defence has been shored up with the astute signings of World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson. Los Merengues have struggled to stem the flow of goals in recent seasons and recruiting the best centre back at the last World Cup seems a good idea as well as getting hold of a midfielder to provide the sort of bite in front of the back four that they've lacked since Claude Makelele left for Chelsea.

The Madrid side have tried to replace the Frenchman before but neither Uruguayan hatchet man Pablo Garcia nor Danish international Thomas Gravesen have looked comfortable in the Real shirt.

Their recent record of bringing in centre backs is mixed -- Walter Samuel had one miserable season in the Spanish capital before returning to Italy and the jury is still out on the oft-injured Jonathan Woodgate -- with Sergio Ramos being the one success.

Real fans may feel that the rest of the team also needs a revamp with Zinedine Zidane gone and Raul and Ronaldo looking pretty ponderous up front, but having one of the very best managers in Fabio Capello and these new signings should see Los Galacticos seriously challenge for the La Liga title.

Current champions Barcelona have also done some shopping at the discount Turin superstore and are due to snap up Cannavaro and Emerson's teammates Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram.

The deal isn't done yet but the further strengthening of the Catalans who were the best team in Spain and Europe last season will be ominous to their rivals hoping to catch up on them this time round.

Barca had minimum cover for their back line so it's another wise transfer investment. Coach Frank Rijkaard's biggest problem will be keeping his side motivated after couple of very successful seasons and the injection of two top quality players will surely help.

Most of Juventus's defence now looks like it will be playing in Spain and with Manchester Utd expressing an interest in Patrick Vieira and Spurs sniffing around Pavel Nedved, more of the Juve starting XI that won and then was stripped of the Scudetto could be heading for pastures new. Expect more sales in the coming weeks.