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With Ronaldo, Kaka Real Madrid Becomes NY Yankees of Soccer |
By Neil McLeman
In Florentino Perez’s first Galacticos era, Real Madrid bought a big-name player every year. Now in his second coming at the Bernabeu, the construction billionaire is building a new team with a new megastar every day.
With Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo signed and David Villa perhaps on his way, the Spanish club is reckoned to have a summer transfer kitty of £250million.
But the question being asked is how Real are able to defy the credit crunch.
“I do not know where the £300m (£255m) that Perez thinks he has for signings comes from,” said Barcelona’s financial director Xavier Sala-i-Martin yesterday.
“He says he will recoup it by selling replica shirts and so he will have to sell 30 million of them. That is impossible.
“How can it be that a football club has so much money to spend, bearing in mind the current economic situation in the country and the politics of credit restriction in place in all banks?”
The suspicions about Real, which is privately owned by members so it does not have to adhere to stock market regulations, date from the club being regarded as “the establishment team” from the days of fascist dictator General Franco. And favourable treatment from government and banks was shown in 2001 when Perez got the club’s old training ground “rezoned” out of the green belt and sold it to the city council for £200m.
Four skyscrapers were built on the site. That money cleared their debts and paved the way for the purchase of Zinedine Zidane, the Brazilian Ronaldo and David Beckham. As a result, Real enjoyed great commercial success all over the world.
Perez, 62, stepped down as Real’s president in 2006 but was re-elected unopposed earlier this month following the club’s dismal showing last season.
Now the policy of speculating to accumulate has started again - and the arrival of Ronaldo could boost revenue by £50m a year.
“Ronaldo can be viewed in the same bracket as Beckham when it comes to global commercial impact,” said Professor Simon Chadwick of Coventry University.
“Even if Real signed one or two of the other stars, there would be a real focus on Ronaldo’s and Kaka talents on the pitch, but also their brand off it. That will pay for their transfers several times over, even with a bumper salary package.”
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