Madrid, July 04: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has told television channel Cuatro that “with two more signings we will have enough.”Late on Friday, Cuatro carried out the most extensive interview with Perez since his return to Real on June 1, an interview printed by sports daily AS on Saturday.
Perez, a 62 year-old construction billionaire, has taken world football by storm with the most profligate spending spree ever seen.
He has already spent around 210 million euros (293.76 million dollars) on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Raul Albiol – and the spending spree is not yet over.
Perez is determined to build a team capable of ending the domestic and European domination of Barcelona.
His profligacy in times of crisis – unemployment has increased to 18 per cent in Spain – has been criticized by prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, UEFA president Michel Platini and various church leaders.
“I feel a big responsibility,” he told Cuatro. “I have had to return to the club that I love and that has generated a lot of hope. That is precisely the model of Real Madrid: to generate hope with the best players.”
Perez became world famous during his first spell as Real president, from 2000 to 2006, by signing the much-vaunted “Galactico” stars Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham.
When asked by Cuatro why he had returned to the club presidency, he replied that “I was suffering so much from home seeing how the club was going after all the efforts that we had made. I reached the conclusion that I would prefer to change the situation rather than watch from home.”
He added that “what has hurt me most has been the bad image of the club in the last three years. Now we are working to recuperate normalcy and to put Real Madrid back in the place where it should be.”
Perez then insisted that “I have learned from the mistakes I have committed in the past”, in reference to the crisis that led him to surprisingly resign in February 2006.
When asked whether it made sense to spend so heavily on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, he said: “Yes it is, and I proved this previously with Figo, Zidane, Beckham and Ronaldo.
Signing a world star means making an investment that has to become profitable. The great players are the ones who produce most income. That’s why I am not worried about paying so much for them, because they are going to increase the club’s income.”
Perez admitted that his major challenge now was to “convince certain players that they have to leave,” in order to reduce a squad that currently has 35 players.
“With two more signings,” he added, “we will have enough.”
He declined to identify his next targets or to talk about the situation of French winger Franck Ribery, who has said this week that he wants to leave Bayern Munich for Real.
Perez finished the interview by saying that the presentation of Cristiano Ronaldo, on Monday night, “will be really spectacular.”
Around 70,000 “Madridista” fans are expected to fill the Estadio Bernabeu to welcome the world’s most expensive player, at ane stimated 94 million euros.
The Marca sports daily carries a brief interview with Ronaldo on Saturday, in which the Portuguese star said that “my objective is to be one of the best players in history…or the best. I will prove that I am worth what they have paid for me.”
Ronaldo added that “now I can say that my dream has come true” and that “Monday will be the greatest moment of my life.”
–Agencies