valdano has confirmed, that madrid won't meet l'pools asking price for xabi alonso and that they are already working on alternatives => i guess this means sticking with what's already there like you suggested beast, is not an option for them.
so, again...other than de rossi, what could they be working on???
further, he said 80m € for ribéry is way off and that bayern could as well say "we won't sell" instead.
i like how these days the sell of huntelaar is all over. milan, manu, stuttgart & hamburg to name a few, cause that increases the chance of negredo actually staying (which is still not sure yet)