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?

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forte

I seem to remember during last summers Ronaldo hype, that Fergie said about the Glazers "They know that success on the pitch is worth more than the money in the bank." along the lines of saying that he had personally convinced them that it was better to keep Ronaldo than sell him. With this new transfer policy looks like a bit of a big turn around for fergie.
Corbin

the real reason behind united's transfer policy is their mounting debt and an attempt to cut costs...

http://unprofessionalfoul.com/...
MattyDub

I don't see why a team like United should ever be bothered with resale value. If they bought Ribery for £50million and went on to win the treble - surely the financial gain and trophies would far outway selling him on for short change...
martin

Ryan I think most people know that's Arsenal's policy. It doesn't necessarily make United a feeder club, that depends on what they do with the players. Not buying old players doesn't have to mean buying young players in order to make a profit on them (Arsenal). I think this is just a response to the ridiculous price put on Ribery.
RyanJ

Oh, and technically this policy makes Man U a feeder club. That's not a good reputation for United but it is good business.
RyanJ

Both approaches are risky because in Man U case u never quite know how a player will develop. Even if a player appear promising while young things can definitely change, two prime examples being Drenthe and Ricardo Quaresma. However, in Real's case they bought two dominant players with very different styles of play who aren't accustomed to playing second fiddle to anyone. I would rather go for Man U's approach. At least if a player flops there won't be a huge financial loss if any, if they develop into world class like Ronaldo u either keep or sell the player for an astronomical sum. Very few people realize that Arsenal have emplyed this policy for the last 10 or so years now. In addition, u don't need a world class team to be succesful, one world class player supported by 10 good players with chemistry is enough. It will be interesting to see what happens next season.
Daryl

Just to be double-clear, the Man Utd policy only applies to big money signings, like Berbatove for example.

They still would have signed Cantona, as he only cost £1.2m and they'll still probably pay a few million here and there for players aged 26 and up. They just won't be spending say £30m on a 27 year old.
chris

That sound you hear is Michel Platini clamoring to impose a ban on the transfer of youth players.
SP

well it seems as if united have learned from their last two major transfers: berbatov has only been depreciated in price since signing at the age of 27 and ronaldo fetched 65 million pounds in profit
martin

Under this policy, United wouldn't have signed Cantona...
OhYes

Aren't CBs and GKs better at ages around 28?

I'd pick ManU's policy because at least you can still build a team that actually plays well together. Real Madrid's policy is always risky, but can work with the right signing and coach.
Corey

Thanks for the advertising Daryl!

Although the loans do not worry to much simply because the ability of Perez to market his two star signings could mean payback earlier then the agreed terms, its still unsettling to only 'galatico' names linked with the club. Then again, there have been some low profile players touted to come in, such as Ivan Marcano from Santander to cover at left back or center back. But Marcano is a relative unknown outside Cantabria, so he wont suit a headline of a tabloid like MARCA.

The point of my campaign is to show Real Madrid fans that while buying stars is all fine and dandy, where is identity of this team? The young lads who were sold off from the academy have made names for themselves in other La Liga teams, so why not bring them back instead of spending 50 million + for someone like Ribery who is not really needed with the addition of Ronaldo. I am pleased to have Ronaldo and Kaka, as any fan would be, but thats where it stops. No more big name players.

Santiago Bernabeu had a theory on building a team. The best of the cantera, the best of Spain and the best of the world. Seems the best of the world is more lop sided then the other two factors, so showing people who the cantera players are should peek their interest in seeing them pay for Real again. And of course it should renew the trust that the management shows in the youth team so that young players dont have to be sold to other teams for two or three years before they can make their Real Madrid debut. We can only hope...
Jose159

"He needs to build a team, not a marketing opportunity."

Honest question: says who?