So it’s finally happened. With Kaká and now Cristiano Ronaldo moving to the Bernabeu, the second coming of the Galácticos has well and truly arrived. £80M is frankly an obscene amount of money, especially when an entire club as big as Newcastle is currently up for sale for a similar price. So how do Madrid go about affording these huge fees?
Firstly, Madrid are a club who have that Royal seal of approval that the name ‘Real’ gives them. With Chairman Florentino Pérez wiping out the club’s debt back in 2001 during his first stint, money left over from the selling of the training ground helped to fund the purchases of Figo, Zidane, Beckham et al.
“The person who may come out best through all of this could be Wayne Rooney”
Also, Madrid have maximised their income, through television rights, Champions League money, match day income at the 80,354 capacity Bernabeu and money-spinning pre-season tours. All of this has led to the side becoming the world’s richest club in terms of revenue (€366 in the past financial year) and has helped somewhat to raise the funds.
However, possibly the most important factor in all of this is Pérez himself. Thanks to a successful career in construction, Mr Galáctico has a personal fortune estimated at £1.8 billion. He clearly loves the club and deals in the way most of us can only dream of as we play Football Manager on our laptops. What’s to say he hasn’t at least part-funded this and the Kaká deal?
Of course all of this spending on firepower could prove to be in vain if the Spanish side doesn’t also invest in the defensive line, but this isn’t Pérez’s way.
So where does this leave Manchester United? Well some of the money could go to pay off some of the interest on the club’s debts certainly; it may go towards signing up Carlos Tévez on a permanent basis. The press will have a field summer rather than a day with all the players that will now inevitably be linked with Old Trafford.
Players such as Luis Antonio Valencia, Franck Ribéry, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Karim Benzema, David Villa and Wesley Sneijder will all be mentioned by all and sundry. United could buy three or four world-class players but the only players that could realistically have quite the impact of Ronaldo are Messi, who won’t move, or Kaká, who’s just switched clubs.
As to who will benefit in the long run club-wise is a 50-50 decision. It depends how Madrid shape and mould their side and how the Reds go about life after Ronaldo. The person who may come out best through all of this could be Wayne Rooney.
Consigned to the left-hand side on many occasions last season, Rooney performs best when upfront. With the free spirit that Ronaldo was, the team may go back to a more structured 4-4-2 with Rooney and presumably Dimitar Berbatov upfront. If Rooney revels in the role up top, Ronaldo may not be quite as missed as most expect...
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