The newly elected Real Madrid president Perez has given a sense of nostalgia to the footballing world by going on a shopping spree that has left the economic pundits shocked.
There are some things money can’t buy…’ goes a tag line. Twist it a bit in case of Real Madrid and it will be: ‘There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else there’s Florentino Perez.’
The newly elected Real Madrid president Perez has given a sense of nostalgia to the footballing world by going on a shopping spree that has left the economic pundits shocked. Known for his liking to get world’s best players in his team, Perez has brought an end to years of speculation of Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer saga.
“A club like Real Madrid needs to have several of the best players in the world and even though I can’t discuss names today, we have a spectacular project on the sporting side,” said Perez when he was elected the president unopposed earlier this month. And he has kept his promise.
Perez’s ambition to make Real Madrid the world’s best football club is well received by the fans but one can’t help wondering whether Madrid are going back to their Galactico days again?
A Real fan raised his concern over the team’s composition on one of the popular online fan clubs. “Real is a big team on paper. But on the pitch?” Few of them fear the club is going back to it’s inglorious past, when Perez spent 285 mn pounds in transfers. They won the Champions League in 2001-02 but achieved precious little after that in Europe.
During his earlier tenure as the club’s president (2000-2006), Perez first signed Luis Figo. The squad was strengthened by buying one Galactico, or Superstar, each year and soon Real became the biggest club in Europe. Zidane joined Madrid in 2001, Ronaldo in 2002, Beckham in 2003, Owen in 2004 and Robinho in 2005.
During his six-year regime at the helm of the affairs, Perez made little or no effort to strengthen the defence. All his major purchases were either strikers or midfielders.
With the signing of Kaka and Ronaldo, there is no doubt over brand Madrid getting a shot in the arm but how well does it augur for the team? They already have a star-studded squad comprising the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Lassana Diara, Rafael van der Vaart, Gago and the original Galacticos, Raul and Iker Casillas. But what about their defence that has leaked goals throughout last season?
Going by Perez’s reputation, strengthening the defence will be last on his priority list. You can have the best players on the team but are they enough to make a good team? Real have experienced this before…
So hellbent is Perez to denounce rivals Barcelona that he is ready to sign Valencia’s David Villa (35 million euros reportedly) and Frenchman Franck Ribery (50 million euros). We can only speculate as once again the era of ‘Disneyfication of Real Madrid’, as their former star Steve McManaman called it, perhaps has begun. And we talk of economic crisis…
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