Spanish Inquisition: Are Real Madrid & Florentino Perez Going Overboard?

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Kaka, Florentino Perez, Real Madrid (MARCA)

When Real Madrid were 'forced' to sell Robinho in August 2008, many believed that the Galactico dream was well and truly over, if it wasn’t already, while the cynics predicted that it would signal the collapse of the club’s seemingly eternal golden era.

And they weren’t wrong. Los Blancos struggled horribly in the immediate few months following 'O Principe’s' departure, they subsequently flopped in the Champions League again, they made a mockery of themselves up in the boardroom and to rub the most caustic of salts into the wound, they had to watch Barcelona win three titles in the month of May.

It seemed as though the most historic and illustrious of football clubs was starting to fade deeper and deeper into their own shadow. Who would’ve imagined, Real Madrid selling one of their best and most promising players and one of their biggest stars to a club like Manchester ‘No History’ City?

But then again, who would’ve thought 12 months later that Madrid would have Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and possibly Franck Ribery all in the same dressing room? And let’s not forget poor Raul Albiol, who doesn’t quite have the star status but is unquestionably one of the best defenders in Spain today.

Like a sleeping giant rudely awaken by the fireworks and the all-night party over at Las Ramblas in Catalunya, Real Madrid are ready to unleash their wrath after years and years being deprived of either trophies or spectacular football.

But as desperate as they are to repair the damage and their image, are Real Madrid right to spend all their money – which is likely to exceed a quarter of a billion dollars by the time the transfer market closes – all in one summer? Has Florentino Perez gone overboard, like Luciano Moggi says?

Well, the answer is simple. For Madridistas, it’s a definite 'no, the president has not gone overboard' and 'yes, they have the right to spend that much amount of money in one year'. If anything, the fans are probably demanding that ‘El Presidente’ close the deal for Ribery and Xabi Alonso as soon as possible no matter the cost and then push for David Villa, David Silva and Maicon.

To the outside world, however, it does seem a tad excessive and extravagant, or as Joan Laporta would describe it, "imperialistic and arrogant". But the Barcelona chief is forgetting one thing: it’s because of the Blaugrana’s ‘triplete’ success that Perez has been driven to such madness. It’s because of Laporta’s constant boasting of having the three best players in the world, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi that has prompted Los Merengues to build their own Dream Team.

Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t do the rest of the world any favours either when he taunted the capital titans last year by calling them "General Franco’s club" and labelling them a mob, before taking another jab by saying he "wouldn’t sell a virus to them". Did he expect to make fun of Madrid and get away with it? He should have let sleeping dogs lie.

And it was perhaps Liverpool who tipped Perez, Jorge Valdano and Emilio Butragueno over the edge. The Reds had the gall to put five goals past the Blancos over 180 minutes of football in the Champions League, a result which spurred the aforementioned ‘White House’ trio, who weren’t in power yet at the time, into action. Who knows what the football transfer climate would be like now had Liverpool stopped at 3-0 during the second-leg clash at Anfield.

But Madrid have always been known to spend big and they’ve always had an obsession to bring the best players in the world to the Santiago Bernabeu. It didn’t start ten years ago with Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane and in all seriousness, it didn’t re-start because of Fergie, Laporta or Liverpool. It started half a century ago with Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas.

But are they doing the right thing spending over €200 million in one single summer to completely reconstruct the team? Valdano was the first to admit that coach, Manuel Pellegrini won’t have the easiest of tasks making the side click in the first few months. And as Arsene Wenger alluded to, it would have made perfect sense for Madrid to buy two or three players at a time instead.

But Perez isn’t buying footballers. He’s buying the best superstars in the world and you can accuse him all you want of only being interested in selling shirts, but there’s no club, no fan, no coach or manager and no chairman in the world who wouldn’t want the best players in their team if they had access to the right resources.  

Madrid just happen to be that one club who have that kind of access and they know that the window of opportunity to sign these megastars do not stay open for long. Consider Kaka’s case. If Milan had sold Pato to Chelsea first, there would be almost no chance for the Merengues to sign Ricky.

Had they passed up on Cristiano Ronaldo, tore up the infamous ‘pre-contract’ and forfeited €30 million, they would probably never have another shot at the Portuguese. The same would apply for Ribery. With clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Arsenal all hot on his trail, if ‘Floren-team’ didn’t make their move this summer, they would never have another opportunity.

And as for Benzema? Well, he is a weird choice. An upfront fee of €35m for a 21-year-old who has never played outside of France to spearhead the frontline of what is expected to be, on paper, the most fearsome attacking unit ever assembled on a football pitch.

It’s a big risk, but Madrid know that with South Africa 2010 looming on the horizon, Benzema has to perform and he has to grab the bull by the horns straight away and impress from day one, or he will risk being dropped from the French national team. Call it tough love, call it motivation, but if there’s a good time to bring in a young, hungry footballer from overseas, it would be during a World Cup year.

What is a concern for most Madrid diehards is whether the club will have any money left to further reinforce the backline, or if Florentino will make the same mistake again and neglect the 'boring' part of the team.

To his credit, he has already signed Albiol and he’s working hard on Alvaro Arbeloa as well as Xabi Alonso, who, although not a defender, will give the rearguard extra steel. And if there were as many superstar defenders in the world today as there are attackers, you can rest assured that he would sign them.

With still roughly two months to go before the curtains come down on the silly season, Madrid are likely to continue spending big, leaving the football community flabbergasted and drawing more stinging criticism. But they don’t care what others say and neither do the fans.

As one of the homemade banners at the Santiago Bernabeu read on that glittering evening when Madrid’s new No. 8 was unveiled to the world: Kaka: €67 million. Cristiano Ronaldo: €94 million. Watching them play in white together: Priceless.

KS Leong, Goal.com