The 2009 summer transfer season has almost reached its halfway point and it seems that the amounts of money spent on players this summer has been more than usual. Let’s not dance around this here, we’re talking about Manchester City, and even more than them,Real Madrid.
To date Real Madrid had spent around 200 million euros on four players. Sure, two of these players have been recent Ballon d’Or winners but ₤68.5 million and ₤80 million is a ridiculous amount for any player.
Here are Real Madrid’s summer 2009 purchases:
• Kaka for ₤68.5 million
• Cristiano Ronaldo for ₤80 million
• Raul Albiol for ₤13 million
• Karim Benzema for ₤30 million
• Alvaro Negredo for ₤5 million
• Esteban Granero for ₤4 million
• Total – ₤200.5 million
And now their signings in the last year:
• Lassana Diarra for ₤20 million
• Rafael van der Vaart for ₤11 million
• Ezequiel Garay for ₤8 million
• Klass-Jan Huntelaar for ₤17 million
• Total – ₤56 million
Let’s also look at their spending in 2007:
• Pepe for ₤26 million
• Fernando Gago for ₤17.5 million
• Wesley Sneijder for ₤23 million
• Arjen Robben for ₤31.5 million
• Marcelo for ₤5 million
• Royston Drenthe for ₤12 million
• Gabriel Heinze for ₤8 million
• Total – ₤123 million
Man City have dished out the money this summer as well bringing in every forward in the league. Okay it’s not that bad but they have had interest in probably ten strikers and have signed three, all world class players.
Here is this summer’s purchases:
• Roque Santa Cruz for ₤17.5 million
• Carlos Tevez for ₤25.5 million
• Emmanuel Adebayor for ₤25 million
• Gareth Barry for ₤12 million
• Kolo Toure for ₤15 million
• Total – ₤95 million
Don’t forget to add in the rest of their big spending in the last year. That includes:
• Robinho for ₤32.5 million
• Shay Given for ₤6 million
• Wayne Bridge for ₤10 million
• Pablo Zabaleta for ₤6.5 million
• Shaun Wright-Phillips for ₤8.5 million
• Tal Ben-Haim for ₤5 million
• Benjani for ₤4 million
• Vincent Kompany for ₤6 million
• Craig Bellamy for ₤14 million
• Nigel de Jong for ₤17 million
• Total – ₤109.5 million
We’re looking at ₤379.5 million ($623.5 million) in two years by Real Madrid and ₤189.5 million ($311 million) in one year by Manchester City. Enough with the financials, does this really work?
The model for this type of spending and star stacking has to be the first coming of the Galacticos at Real Madrid. Starting in 2000 Real Madrid purchased the following stars:
• Luis Figo in 2000 for ₤38.7 million
• Zinedine Zidane in 2001 for ₤46 million
• Ronaldo (the fat one) in 2002 for ₤26 million
• David Beckham in 2003 for ₤25 million
Add into those four Raul and Iker Casillas, both graduates of Real Madrid’s youth system and Roberto Carlos who was signed before Galactico mastermind and Madrid President Florentino Perez was elected and you have a great team. The spending on these players was spread out over a period of four years with one ‘Galactico’ being added each year, unlike the bulk spending done by Madrid and Man City.
The initial plan of Perez was to sign one ‘Galactico’ and bring up a star youth player each year to build their team. Though the new Madrid signings have been called the second coming of the Galacticos, Perez’s business model has changed. Now Perez, who resigned in 2006 and was reelected this year, and Madrid just want to spend all at once.
The Galacticos were initially quite successful winning La Liga in 2000-01 and again in 2002-03. They also won Europe’s most prestigious tournament, the Champion’s League, in 2001-02 behind a Zidane goal. Madrid also saw success on their bottom line thorough the marketing of their superstars.
It wasn’t always peachy though as success turned into failure. There are many reasons for the breakdown of the team.
1. Ignoring defensive signings
• Madrid signed many great attacking players but for some reason didn’t want to pay big money for defenders.
2. Firing a good coach
• Vicente del Bosque had won the Champion’s League and La Liga in his time as manager but was fired despite his success
3. Too much front office interference
• Florentino Perez forced new manager Carlos Quiereoz to choose the superstar players despite poor form
Other possible explanations include signing players purely for marketing purposes (Beckham) and making poor transfer decisions (Michael Owen instead of Samuel Eto’o).
If we look at Real Madrid with these three main problems in mind we may be able to see some indication on whether the Second Galaticos will work. Madrid have signed defender Raul Albiol who is young and was successful at Valencia which show signs of addressing problem #1. Madrid fired Bernd Schuster in the middle of last season and replaced him with Juande Ramos. Ramos got Madrid to play better but was not retained for the 2009/2010 season. Instead former Villareal manager Manuel Pellegrini was installed at the helm. They can’t fire their coach, but I think it will take time for the new players to gel into the team and the players to adjust to their third coach in a year. Problem #3 is up in the air right now, but Perez seems to have a lot of influence on who is signed. We will really see what happens when the season starts.
Back to Manchester City now and let’s judge them against the three problems as well. Ignoring defensive signings. Check. At least so far. Sure, they are rumored to offer big bucks for Chelsea captain John Terry, however, he hasn’t signed yet. Joleon Lescott has also been the source of rumors, but once again, nothing has been completed. That leaves an unimpressive group led by Micah Richards, Wayne Bridge and Pablo Zabaleta. Not exactly a scary group.
Problem #2, firing a good coach. It hasn’t been done yet but Mark Hughes has got to start the season on the hot seat. After a lackluster 2008/2009 season which say his team win 13 at home but only two on the road, Hughes must start this season hot to keep his job. Their preseason has been anything to be impressed with, they’ve lost twice in three matches, both to South African teams. Well they didn’t have their full squad because it’s preseason you say? Here’s Man City’s lineup for their matchup with the Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday: Given; Vidal (Ben Haim 16), Dunne (Zabaleta 36), Onuoha (Weiss 73), Bridge; Barry, de Jong, Wright-Phillips, Petrov (Robinho 58); Bellamy, Adebayor. If Man City struggle to start, Hughes will be gone, and having a new coach could take adjusting to.
Problem #3, too much front office interference. I wouldn’t say that it has been interference by Man City owner Sheikh Mansour, but I don’t know what it’s like on the inside. They have said they wanted to sign big players and have done a good job at that. From what I have seen, Sheikh Mansour seems like a good businessman and is running Man City well. Once again, this is a wait and see situation.
Neither of these teams have shown signs of stopping their spending. Man City have been linked with Terry, Lescott and more (mostly attacking players) and Real Madrid have been rumored to want Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, Valencia striker David Villa, and Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery among others. The money they are talking about is an extreme amount for these players as well, especially the last two.
We can’t judge the success of this model yet, but we will have to wait until the end of the 2009/2010 to see if these purchases have translated into victories and trophies. Whether or not this strategy can succeed in the long term is a whole new conversation.
