Galacticos part II

Real Madrid begin a new era under Fiorentino Perez.

Three years ago, when Fiorentino Perez resigned from the post of president at Real Madrid, a collective sigh of relief was heaved by football clubs all over the world. Perez had earned a dubious reputation for throwing money around in his first stint. Football isn’t a stingy sport but Perez set new standards of affluenza so when he returned last week, to begin his second term as the president of the club, he did so in the way he knows how. He snapped up two of the world’s best players — Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo — for a combined fee of £130 million.

In his first term, Perez bought three world footballers of the year — Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo — along with the most marketable face in football, David Beckham. Even then Perez paid a record amount of money for these stars, and he has done it again. That Real Madrid team was named the Galacticos. Perez’s dream project worked for three years and Real Madrid won two Champions League titles and two La Liga titles.

This time, however, the challenge before Real Madrid is bigger. Their biggest rivals, Barcelona, have had a historic season and won everything that was on offer and have a brilliant team. Kaka and Ronaldo’s signings will strike fear in any team’s defence. Both these players have been World Player of the Year and have the ability to win a game on their own.

But the kind of money that has been splashed on them means that the pressure to deliver will be immense. The fact that Real Madrid has a habit of sacking their manager faster than people change their toothbrush will not help matters. What Perez needs is some steel in the defence and midfield and the ability to retain a coach. Unless he works on these areas, no Kaka or Ronaldo, irrespective of their talent, will mean much. Perez hopefully knows this.

For fans all over the La Liga, things have become more interesting. Apart from the two new Galacticos, the talents of Lionel Messi, Andres

Iniesta and David Villa will be on show. Will the new era at Real Madrid reap rich dividends on the field? Wait and watch as the new season gets underway in August.