Florentino Perez believes that spending a combined £136 million on Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo will strengthen Real Madrid financially.
Manchester United yesterday accepted an offer of £80 million for Ronaldo, shortly after Real spent around £56 million to sign Kaka from AC Milan. As Perez, the club president, ushers in a new galactico era at the Bernabeu, they are unlikely to be the last two stars to arrive this summer. David Villa, David Silva, Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso are among the names to have been linked.
As well as the transfer fees, the wages are vast, with Ronaldo expected to be paid £107 million over six years. Questions are being asked about how Real can afford the transfer splurge and whether they risk being submerged in debt, but the president believes that the players will end up paying for themselves.
When asked about the possibility of Madrid being saddled with big debts, Perez told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “On the contrary, we believe we can improve our accounts by aiming for three goals - increasing ticket sales, increasing bank loans and increasing the club’s economic value.
“Real Madrid takes about 400 million [euros] a year, the fruit of three sources of income - a third from ticket sales, a third from television rights and a third from merchandising.”
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Perez even thinks that Ronaldo and Kaka will prove “cheap”. Last week he said that stars have the potential to generate income that can more than compensate for inflated transfer fees. In his previous spell as Madrid’s president, between 2000 and 2006, he sanctioned the signings of Luis Figo, David Beckham, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. “What I am sure of is that which seems expensive is the cheapest,” Perez said.
Discussions regarding Villa, the Valencia striker, are believed to be at an advanced stage. “I want to relaunch the tradition of Real Madrid, which is to be faithful in providing a good show and giving the fans enthusiasm,” Perez added today.
“In order to do that we have to focus on three crucial pillars - to play with great world-famous players, great Spanish players and great youth players. I want to recreate a Real Madrid that makes history.”
However, Fabio Cannavaro, the Italy defender who is to return to Juventus after three years with Real, does not believe that these two signings alone will necessarily close the gap between the club and Barcelona, the Spanish league champions and winners of the Champions League.
“The club is going to have to do more because these players will not solve the internal problems,” Cannavaro, who is currently with the Italy squad in South Africa for the Confederations Cup, said. “The most important thing for the team is to achieve a group mentality.
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“They [Kaka and Ronaldo] are incredible figures, astronomical ones, especially in a world crisis as we are experiencing now,” he said. “But those figures reflect the club culture of always being accustomed to being the best.
“I think Madrid need five signings - most of them in attack, as that is Real Madrid’s playing mentality.”