Madrid - 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.'
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