Big-spending Real Madrid are suddenly counting the pennies.

Big-spending Real Madrid are suddenly counting the pennies.

Director general Jorge Valdano says the �35m price tag Liverpool have slapped on midfielder Xabi Alonso is too high (The Independent).

The same paper says that a move to sign Bayern Munich's French playmaker Franck Ribery has been shelved for another season but a deal is in place to take him to Madrid next season.

The Guardian, however, suggests that Real, who have spent about �170m this summer, could lose out to Chelsea in the race for Ribery's signature.