Florentino Perez has always been an active buyer in transfer windows. He is always on the lookout for players who can add to the glitz and glamour of the Madrid-based club. Since he took over the club as president for a second spell in 2009, he has spent over £700 million on new players – an average of around £100 million every summer.
Which is why it is hugely surprising that he has yet to make a trip to the bank this summer to find money for another marquee purchase. In fact, what is even more surprising that where most top players available during transfer windows were routinely linked to Real by the press, this summer, even those reports have been few and probably unfounded.
The worrying fact for Real is that their immediate opponents in all competitions have made moves in the transfer market to strengthen themselves in the long term. Barcelona have invested much-vaunted sums of money in bringing young players like Lucas Digne, Samuel Umtiti and Andre Gomes. Atletico Madrid have invested in bringing Kevin Gameiro, Simon Vrsaljko and Nico Gaitan to the club while holding on to Griezmann, Gimenez and Saul Niguez.
For a club that prided itself in bringing the biggest stars of the footballing world to the Bernabeu, they have shown a surprising, considerable amount restraint in signing players this summer. Real has held the 4 previous records for most expensive transfers of the world, but this time, they were beaten in the race to sign Paul Pogba by Manchester United, who showed their financial muscle in setting the new record for transfer fees for this deal.
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Their only significant signing this summer was bringing back Alvaro Morata from Juventus. This provides them with a different kind of forward from Jese, who was a more direct player. Morata has the technique to operate deep, and yet he has the physique, guile and finishing to thrive as a lone striker, should the need arise.
Pairing Benzema and Morata in the early matches of this season has become a viable option for Zidane, now that Cristiano Ronaldo is out of the setup early on in the season due to injury. The return of Marco Asensio from a successful loan spell at Espanyol has bolstered Real’s options out wide, as they now have two legitimate wingers as cover for Bale and Ronaldo, or to throw on when Real need to try something different.
Real Madrid have not invested heavily in a quality defender since signing Raphael Varane in 2011. While this particular bet paid off for the club quite handsomely, they need to make at least one more bet of this sort to bring in a player who would take over from Sergio Ramos in a few years. Varane was bought at the right time to replace Pepe at a well-established stage of his career, and now Real need a player with complementary qualities in central defense to partner him in the future.
Often, we have seen in the past that teams which do not improve every year in one department have found a phase of staleness. They are unable to produce the same results if they do not invest in bringing high-quality players to the club. The incoming of new talent spurs on the rest of the squad to match the ability of the new player, and this helps keep up the individual motivation of each player.
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Real Madrid, on the other hand, already have a number of world-class performers in their squad, who proved their mettle in the previous season. By winning the Champions League and making life nervous for Barcelona at the top of the table after a mid-season slump, they have shown that they possess a lot of character in the squad as well, nor are they lacking any motivation to compete at the highest level.
If at all a team so talented as Real has to improve immediately, they have to invest in the very highest quality of talent. Most of the squad players that Real have signed in the recent past (like Jose Callejon, Asier Illaramendi, and Alvaro Arbeloa) are no longer playing for the club, and they have been able to effectively replace them in the short term. They have acceptable backups at all positions to fill in, at least for short lengths of time.
This current season will bear out whether their decision to keep the faith in their existing squad will prove correct.
