Sacchi Believes Perez Is Repeating His Mistakes At Madrid

Arrigo Sacchi, who succeeded Jorge Valdano and took on the director of football role at Real Madrid under Florentino Perez back in 2004, has criticized his old employer's cash-happy exploits.

The Italian was unequivocal in his praise for new signing Kaka and Bernabeu-bound Cristiano Ronaldo, but he was less than impressed with Perez’s impulse purchases.

“For me, football comes from the individual player and Kaka does just that, which is why he is a great player,” he said in an interview with Radio Marca's ‘La Futboleria’.

“Cristiano is like that, too. They are both great players who can play together. However, I believe Florentino has made the mistake again of signing big players without thinking whether or not they can fit into his sporting project, whether or not they can compliment each other.

“He is only thinking about whether or not they will sell shirts.”

Sacchi then quickly turned his attention to the Italian national team, who crashed out of the FIFA Confederations Cup following a shock 1-0 loss to Egypt and a subsequent 3-0 mauling by Brazil.

“It is a failure, no doubt, but it’s also blown out of proportion because the Italians always play friendlies without any enthusiasm,” he reasoned.

“They need motivation and concentration to do well and we must judge them in the major tournaments.

“We have always played the same style of football: a lot of players back in defense and a few talented ones up-front for the counter.

“Not many people agree with this style, but when they try to play differently, things go wrong… as we have seen in this tournament.”

KS Leong, Goal.com