Madrid - A veritable storm has broken out in Spain about
Real Madrid planned signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United
for a world record fee of 96 million euros (134.77 million dollars).
Several sections of the media have criticized the signing because
it comes in the midst of the worst economic crisis for almost 30
years, other sections have expressed doubt as to whether Real can
recuperate their investment.
Real president Florentino Perez has raised eyebrows across the
globe by spending at least 65 million euros on Brazilian attacking
midfielder Kaka and now about to splash out even bigger on Ronaldo
for what would be more than 160 million euros in total for the two.
The expected signing of Ronaldo was front-page news in every
single Spanish newspaper on Friday.
Prestigious Madrid paper El Pais bluntly questioned the morality
of the deal 'during this crisis.'
Barcelona paper La Vanguardia went further, indignantly pointing
out that the 96 million euros could have instead been spent - in a
country suffering from a housing shortage - on building 900
apartments of 80 square metres each.
Not surprisingly, the Catalan media was most critical with Perez'
profligacy, with Catalan language channel TV-3 on Thursday night
naming the expected deal 'an obscenity, in these difficult times.'
Spain has been hit hard by the global recession, and unemployment
has risen above 17 per cent, meaning that almost four million people
are out of work.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta was quoted widely as saying 'Real
Madrid have an emergency that we do not have.'
He referred to the fact that Barca pulled off an historic title
treble (Spanish league amd cup, European Champions League) in the
past season while Real need to rebuild their team.
The Catalan newspapers also quoted Xavier Martin i Sala, Barca's
financial director, as saying 'I really don't know where they (Real)
get the money from. He (Perez) says he will recuperate it from shirt
sales, but that would require 30 million sales, which is impossible.'
Sala i Martin wondered 'how is it possible that a football club
can get this kind of money, given the economic situation and the
credit restrictions imposed by the banks?'
Financial newspaper Cinco Dias said that Real's challenge 'is to
make the signing profitable,' and issued the warning that the club
'has taken a big gamble.'
Even Madrid sports papers AS and Marca were critical of the
signing, even though their circulation figures will certainly
improve because of Perez' spending spree.
Alfredo Relano, the influential editor of AS, commented that
'Florentino (Perez) has given hope to many fans but scandalized many
others. It looks like an obscene act during a crisis. When so many
companies are closing and so many people are on the street, spending
so much money on two footballers looks terrible.'
AS said that Perez is planning to spend well over 200 million
euros this summer. His next target is Euro 2008 top scorer David
Villa. He is also interested in Villa's Valencia team-mates David
Silva and Raul Albiol, as well as Xabi Alonso of Liverpool and Franck
Ribery of Bayern Munich.
An online poll in AS - in which 141,891 votes had been cast by
Friday morning - showed that many Real fans have doubts about the
Ronaldo deal. They were asked whether the purchase is good for the
club - and 55 per cent have voted 'no.'
AS also quoted European football boss Michel Platini as saying
that 'I am surprised at this transfer, during such financial
challenges...It brings up the questions of fair financial play and of
balance in our competitions.'
Marca, which is close to Perez, tried to be more optimistic about
what it called 'the Transfer of the Century.'
Even so, an online poll in Marca shows that 73 per cent of readers
think the transfer fee too high.
And Marca quotes Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro - who has just
returned to Juventus after three years in Madrid - as saying that
'Cristiano and Kaka will not resolve Real's problems on the field.'
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