La Liga - Perez, Spanish PM clash over Real spending

Eurosport - Wed, 17 Jun 13:18:00 2009

Real Madrid's record bid of £80 million for Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo is "excessive", Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.

FOOTBALL Spain Prime Minister Zapatero - 0

At around the same time, Real president Florentino Perez in a seperate interview described criticism of the club's recent record-breaking transfer policy as 'the result of ignorance'.

"I don't know if I am the most suitable person to be talking about signings by Real Madrid but these amounts seem excessive to me," Zapatero, a fan of Real's arch-rivals Barcelona, said in an interview with television broadcaster Cuatro. "In principle, I don't like it."

Perez had spent around £59m on Brazilian Kaka before his offer to Manchester United to buy Ronaldo and the club has said they want four or five more top players.

The huge transfer fees have shocked people in Spain, particularly with the country in deep recession, unemployment rising toward 20 per cent and many soccer clubs saddled with huge debts.

Zapatero (pictured) joined his economy minister, Elena Salgado, in urging the banks who are loaning Perez most of the money for his spending spree to extend credit to companies struggling to negotiate favourable loans.

But he said the government was essentially powerless to intervene in the workings of the free market.

"We cannot always complain in an economy with a free market when there is something we don't like, and there are a lot of things that I don't like," he told Cuatro.

"It would be bad for the government to step in and say to a bank, this credit yes and this credit no," he added. "It has to be the private sector that takes the risk."

Perez was quoted as saying on Wednesday that people who have called the club's spending immoral are ignorant and misguided.

Asked in an interview with newspaper Publico if he was annoyed when his bid for Ronaldo was labelled immoral, Perez told the paper: "No. I simply believe that it is a result of ignorance.

"This is a corporate project and some investments (in players) and those who see it differently are misguided. But time will prove us right and that's why I am relaxed," he added.

Perez has argued that the investment in Ronaldo, Kaka and others will more than pay for itself by generating new income from merchandising, the sale of audiovisual rights, advertising and marketing.

Reuters

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  1. dear Fjk, you are only calculating the cost and the­ previous years figures, how much do you think will RM­ earn by merchandising of these players, and i believe­ that there would definitely be contracts that RM will­ take the earnings also from their personal rights in­ terms of marketing campaigns or ads or anything they­ do, that is cashing on the celebrity status,

    dont you­ remember the earlier galacticos era when he went on the­ same spending spree bringing figo, zidane, ronaldo,­ beckham etc. and this is how RM went on to become the­ riches club in the world.

    Apparently Perez knows a­ little more than you do.

    From Slyshooter, on Thu 18 Jun 8:06AM

  2. dear Fjk, you are only calculating the cost and the­ previous years figures, how much do you think will RM­ earn by merchandising of these players, and i believe­ that there would definitely be contracts that RM will­ take the earnings also from their personal rights in­ terms of marketing campaigns or ads or anything they­ do, that is cashing on the celebrity status,

    dont you­ remember the earlier galacticos era when he went on the­ same spending spree bringing figo, zidane, ronaldo,­ beckham etc. and this is how RM went on to become the­ riches club in the world.

    Apparently Perez knows a­ little more than you do.

    From Slyshooter, on Thu 18 Jun 8:04AM

  3. dear Fjk, you are only calculating the cost and the­ previous years figures, how much do you think will RM­ earn by merchandising of these players, and i believe­ that there would definitely be contracts that RM will­ take the earnings also from their personal rights in­ terms of marketing campaigns or ads or anything they­ do, that is cashing on the celebrity status,

    dont you­ remember the earlier galacticos era when he went on the­ same spending spree bringing figo, zidane, ronaldo,­ beckham etc. and this is how RM went on to become the­ riches club in the world.

    Apparently Perez knows a­ little more than you do.

    From Slyshooter, on Thu 18 Jun 8:03AM

  4. I understood that RM owes €500 million to the Spanish­ treasury in unpaid taxes etc. How come they can still­ spend money they don't have and also how come­ Platini doesn't have much to say about this kind of­ excessive profligacy? Everyone went ape when Chelsea­ spent loads after Abramovich arrived and yet RM make­ them look like small spenders and not a peep!

    From Terry Neale, on Thu 18 Jun 8:00AM

  5. The six year contract for Ronaldo will cost RM the­ following;
    £80 million transfer fee
    £92 million salary­ into Ronaldo's bank (nett as RM are paying his tax­ and NI)
    £24 million to cover Tax and NI being paid by­ RM
    £195 million the total cost to RM which equates to­ £32,500,000 per season as a direct cost to RM to secure­ Ronaldo's services
    Kaka total costs are approx­ £28,250,000 per season
    Between these two players can RM­ honestly justify a gross cost of £60,750,00 per season?­ What about the rest of the squad, what about­ Ribery's costs if he joins them? What about Villa­ costs if he joins them?
    The Madrid Council will have to­ increase the taxes on it's residents a great deal­ to finance this......

    From Fjk, on Thu 18 Jun 7:51AM

  6. The sums do not add up; recently RM were given top spot­ in club financial rankings with an annual turnover of­ approx £289million; with Utd 2nd with £260million­ turnover. Where on earth did all of RM income go if­ they now have to be funded by the banks to buy Kaka and­ Ronaldo???? Lats time RM got themselves into millions­ of pounds in debt financing the purchase of Zidane,­ Figo, Ronaldo; Roberto Carlos etc the RM County Council­ bailed them out. Most premiership clubs now operate on­ the principle that if they do not have the funds­ available or are unable to enter into a split payment­ programme with the other club involved then the­ transfer will not take place; this is why the PL is not­ only the best football league in the world; they are­ the most prudent and in most cases top the list for­ financial and business acumen. You only have to look at­ the overseas investors to understand this. I do not see­ the billionaires buying up clubs in Spain or­ Italy....................Unless the Spanish clubs learn­ to buy only what the club can pay for or the money­ comes from the club owner and not the countries banks­ then they are heading for a serious financial crash­ dive

    From Fjk, on Thu 18 Jun 7:29AM

  7. also, getachew, you only spent 400 million in 200 to­ 2005 :) well arround, they dont count all the pennies.­ im sure there was some money on the side though :P

    From cardiffboy_lol, on Wed 17 Jun 11:26PM

  8. johnathan b is right dudes. also, it is immoral in some­ respects. buuuuuut, only when you look at football as a­ game. it outgrew that classification a long time ago.­ its a business. and real madrid have a very large­ overdraft :D id be very surprised if ronaldo is still­ number one next year, with him having to share the ball­ with kaka, schneider ( or however you spell it :P),­ robben, ramos etc. i think his "shine" will­ fade. i suppose only one way to find out :) hes never­ really proven himself with portugal...........

    From cardiffboy_lol, on Wed 17 Jun 11:24PM

  9. I don't understand why u r crying.I think u r­ afraid of Real Madrid's new attacking power.
    YES­ they r coming To Kick some as............

    From cyrusrostami, on Wed 17 Jun 10:05PM

  10. getachew......they borrow the momey off madrid­ council!!council tax going up 20%!!

    From newcastleian1, on Wed 17 Jun 9:49PM

  11. look where greed got the biggest banks in the­ world,maybe mr perez dose not read the newspaper

    From michael, on Wed 17 Jun 8:27PM

  12. Yeah and Ronaldo will start appearing in SPANISH­ TALKING SOAP SHOWS, and apparently hes gonna do a­ shampoo commercial when he gets 2 Madrid Real r Fakeen­ Loosers good 1 spending this much money lets c if u can­ beat any of the english teams in Q-Final if u do get 2­ the Q-F that is ur a Disgrace REAL-lly...

    From Aleksandar, on Wed 17 Jun 7:46PM

  13. many people don't know the situation in real­ madrid
    real madrid is people's club not for sale­ like others
    real madrid is owned by people not by­ investors like others and the presedant is officialy­ elected by members and will be remove the same way­ unless other clubs are bought
    since the year 2000 real­ madrid have spend almost billione euro
    in the 1st term­ of perez from 2000 to 2005 we spend 600 million, in­ last 3 years with calderon we spend more than 350­ million, now it is the same
    go and check fifa's web­ site, you'll find that real madrid is the richest­ club in the world for very long time till now
    do you­ know why?
    when we buy top players we get many sources­ for finance such as TV broadcasting payment increase,­ Advartisement payments increase, sponsers increase and­ shirt selling increase too.
    perez said "we bought­ kaka with 65 Mil euro but we will get profite of 100­ mil in 3 years from this player"
    i think this­ answer all the question

    From getachew44, on Wed 17 Jun 7:02PM

  14. They can't go bankrupt.

    The bank regularly cancels­ their debts to make sure.
    You have to remember that­ football teams in Spain are funded by corporations who­ see the success of "their" team as proof of­ the success of the company.

    From Jonathan B, on Wed 17 Jun 6:29PM

  15. well i hope real madrid go bankrupt with all these­ signings and debuct 30 points from them

    From Paul T, on Wed 17 Jun 5:08PM

  16. bankruptcy on the way!

    From vosfodo, on Wed 17 Jun 4:58PM

  17. well its too late to cry over it now

    From Richard Madrid, on Wed 17 Jun 3:01PM
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