Florentino Perez, the newly elected President of Real Madrid Football Club, has been back in charge of the club for the proverbial five minutes and has already splashed £136 million on two of the most recognised names in world football, and it doesn't look like he will be stopping there, as he tries to bring back the 'Galacticos' philosophy at the Bernabeu.
The announcement today of Manchester United accepting an £80 million bid for world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, coupled with the purchase of AC Milan's Kaka for a mere £56 million earlier in the week, will begin to send shivers down the spines of many in European football, as Madrid show their financial muscle, ironically during one of the worst financial crises in living memory.
Try telling that, though, to Perez, who's previous reign at the Bernabeu saw the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham play in the famous all white of Madrid, and with Madrid touted to be in the market for Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery, Valencia's David Villa and Liverpool's Xabi Alonso, among others, you can rest assured that Kaka and Ronaldo wont be the only ones coming to Madrid over the summer.
Those who keep their finger on the pulse in world football will remember the unceremonious way in which the previous 'Galacticos' disbanded, with reports of dressing room unrest and players not bothering to train, as the millions that were being spent on them, as well as paid to them, was going to their heads.
Despite the issues that surrounded the end of the previous 'Galacticos' era, you cannot argue with the success that it brought to the Spanish giants, who in Perez's first term as Madrid president, between 2000 and 2006, raked in two La Liga titles (2000/01 & 2002/03), two Copa Del Rey's (2001/02 & 2003/04), two Spanish Super Cup's (2001 & 2003), a Champions League title (2001/02), an Intercontinental title (2002) and a European Super Cup (2002).
A haul of trophies like that would be more than enough for any normal club, but considering the amount of money that was paid for players like Figo and Zidane, this was not a normal club, and ultimately it was the lack of major honours, at domestic, as well as European level, that was the philosophy's down fall.
By bringing in the biggest names in world football, this generally meant bringing in attack minded players, meaning that the Madrid defense was less than ideal and far from what was required to win numerous domestic honours and to challenge more regularly in Europe.
With the acquisition of Kaka and Ronaldo it seems that Perez will continue where he left off with his 'Galacticos' philosophy, despite its previous down falls, as he tries to bridge the gap between themselves and bitter rival's Barcelona, who last year became only the second team in European football to complete the 'treble', winning their domestic league, their major domestic cup and the Champions League all in one season.
On the BBC website, Florentino Perez was quoted to have said "we will build a spectacular team with top-notch players. We have set up a strong and stable sporting project, which will be able to call upon footballers who will turn each Real Madrid match into a fascinating rendezvous."
The club itself has always had a mystique that goes along with it, and with their illustrious history in tow, despite performing below par in recent years, Real Madrid is still somewhere that the top players in the world want to be. Ronaldo expressed his desire to move to Madrid last year, despite coming off the back of a season which saw him score 42 goals for Manchester United and collected the Premier League and Champions League trophies.
It's going to be interesting to see how Real Madrid do business over the summer, and you can be sure that they will go about it in their usual circus style. God knows how many more millions will be spent building this star studded team, but for Madrid's sake lets hope that they, and Perez, learn from the mistakes that were made in 2006, and for the rest of Europe, lets hope they don't.
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