What’s the Story?
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is known for spending huge amounts of money and bringing in the best players in the world. Some of those signings don’t work out but when they do, the value for money is actually quite surprising.
Many fans dislike Perez for the way he goes about his transfer dealings. There were always doubts of whether these signings were intended to earn the club more revenue through T-Shirt sales and other streams.
The president has now himself confirmed in an interview with BBC World Service, that the intentions perceived by the public are indeed true. In the interview, he said, “People understand the obvious – that we sign big players like Ronaldo, [Zinedine] Zidane and [Luis] Figo. But after the players there is the economic sports equation. In our model it is fundamental to understand that in the signing of every player, we have to have in our heads: what's the income generated?”
In case you didn’t know...
Perez is currently in his second spell at the club. The Galacticos project was his brainchild and it all started with Luis Figo in arguably the most controversial signings of all time
The heart of the matter
Although the admission in itself is surprising the motivation behind the Galactico project is not. One does not have to shine a light on the details of Real Madrid's transfers because the view from far off is very clear.
The club under Perez have always put business and brand building ahead of the quality of the football player itself and whether the system in place would suit the signing they have acquired.
Several careers have fallen to pieces at Real Madrid and this includes some of the youngsters currently trying to make their way into the first team. Zidane’s arrival though has arguably been a blessing in disguise.
There has been an influx of youngsters into the first team thanks to the Frenchman’s focus on promotion from within.
What’s next?
Zinedine Zidane has only been in charge of Real Madrid for just over a year and he has already had a few debates with Perez over the current transfer policy. While there is no public evidence of this the lack of signings in the previous window and Zidane’s reported hesitance on signing Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang shows that there is some sort of misunderstanding.
Whether Perez will veto ZIdane’s decisions in the upcoming summer transfer window remains to be seen.
Sportskeeda’s take
While fans might not completely agree with Real Madrid’s transfer policy, in truth it is proving to be very profitable for the club. The revenue from merchandise sales has skyrocketed ever since the Galactico project took shape.
So it is hardly surprising Perez has openly admitted to his policy at the club given its success on Madrid’s overall brand image.
