Real Madrid and Man Utd: A Tale of Two Transfer Policies

By: Daryl | June 17th, 2009

Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon told BBC Radio Five Live last week that his successor Florentino Pérez could afford to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka because:

“Due to my good job in the economic area, the new president can spend the money that I made and saved … I doubled the income and I multiplied by 10 the profit in my two and a half years in the presidency. That means that we have money, and also a solvent club that can get financing when it needs it.”

Seemed like he’d dodged the question at the time, but turns out the last seven words were the most important. “Can get financing when it needs it” basically means “we took out huge loans, because we can”. And yesterday’s news confirms that that’s exactly what they did.

Basically Real Madrid have taken out two massive bankloans in order to purchase Kaka and C-Ron. Spanish building society Caja Madrid said yesterday that it has loaned Real €76.5m, while Spain’s largest bank Banco Santander has loaned the club a similar amount.

Spain’s Finance Minister Elena Salgado was not impressed:

“It surprises me, and what I would ask banks is that: if they have liquidity, that they also make loans to small and medium-size companies and families,” she said. “I would ask that they make an effort for them.”

You tell ‘em.

On the other hand… you’ve got Man Utd, who unveiled an interesting new transfer policy today. From here on out, Man Utd will not be spending big on any player aged 26 or older. The idea is that players older than 26 lose their value as they get older, and so have no resale value

It makes sound financial sense, but is it possible to put together a competitive Premier League and Champions League team with those restrictions? The hard limit on 26 effectively rules out Utd signing Franck Ribery (just turned 26) or David Villa (27). It also means they wouldn’t have been interested in signing Kaka (also 27).

Hard to say who has the right approach here. Maybe neither? You could definitely argue that both Real Madrid and Man Utd have gone too far, albeit in opposite directions.

Real are being reckless, and Perez seems to have learned precisely nothing from his first Galactico gamble. He needs to build a team, not a marketing opportunity. Perez could do a lot worse than start reading Madrid Offside and follow Corey’s Campaign to Bring Back Canteranos.

Man Utd are being too timid and will apparently never sign a star player at the peak of his career again. Not signing a player 28 or up, I could understand. But 26 and up? That just means more quality footballers for rival clubs, which puts Man Utd at a competitive disadvantage.

So… (and you should have seen this question coming) … if you had to choose between these two transfer policies for your team, which would you prefer?