Real Madrid Complete Their Quarter Billion Euro Summer Spending Spree

By: Daryl | August 5th, 2009

With the €30m (plus extras) signing of Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid are finally done spending for the summer. Possibly because they’ve used up all the money in the world.

Now that it’s over, we can step back and take a look at what it is Madrid have done these past three months.

According to most reports, the combined total cost of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Albiol, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso (correction: plus Alvaro Arbeloa) is around €254 million. That’s a quarter of a billion euros in one summer, on just five players.

I haven’t seen it confirmed anywhere, but that’s surely a world record for summer spending. Even Roman Abramovich never parted with that much cash in one transfer window.

I’d previously argued that there was no need to worry about the ever-increasing size of transfer fees, but when you add them altogether it’s a different story.

I’m still not sure whether to run away screaming at the madness of it all or to just sit back and admire Real Madrid’s audacity. What I do know is that the pressure will be on Real Madrid to perform this season. Quarter of a billion euros has to buy some silverware.

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Category: World Football

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Weston (@wpazzurri)

I'm going to laugh by ass off when Madrid still doesnt win anything this season...
Andres

james thats true i too hope granero will get lot of minutes this season and i have a feeling he will since he is simply brilliant and pellegrini seems to like him a lot and said that ronaldo will be used as a forward in some games meaning one of the wings will be free thats where i see granero , you might argue that robben will be picked ahead of him but he is always injured and pellegrini doesnt seem to like him like that so i see granero becoming the solari of this team ,
James

Andres; with such a crowded midfield it's obvious they're going to play the players that get paid the most. Which always means cantera players are used as fringe players.
Andres

MAD has a point , I think perez's first objective is to bring madrid back on top on the world marketing wise , but he also knows by buying these great players ( if they gel) trophies are inevitable
And as a Madridista I can't say I'm upset about this there is no way in helll we would have been able to compete with barca , man utd , chelsea hell even arsenal had we not made these world lass acquisitions

James granero and xabi are two different type of players and perez didn't buy the latter just because he wanted to it was pellegrini's request
Anyways people shouldn't be surprised because as soon as perez took over the office he said they were gonna do 3 summers work in just this one
Jose

OhYes: EPL, Europa Cup and--why not--the Copa Libertadores.
john

Daryl: You forgot Arbeloa.

James: I feel ya, man. But I still have to support my club, even when Mr. Mad-Cap Moneybags turns it into a spectacle.

An interesting topic for Real Madrid related discussion might be: of the current Florentino transfer campaign to completely remodel the team, 5 of the 8 players are Spanish (Xabi, Albiol, Arbeloa, Granero, Negredo). Two of those (well, technically three) still fit the Pavones and Zidanes campaign from his last reign, but with Xabi, Albiol and Arbeloa joining the likes of Casillas, Ramos, and Raul (along with Guti, Torres and the two canteranos listed above)... Could it be that Perez is taking Sepp's 6+5 seriously?
MAD

They may win a cup or two here or there, but I think that what they are building is the Harlem Globetrotters.

I think that they want to make money in the spectacle first, they want to enhance their marketability second - how many European players currently want to go to Real because as a child the team was larger than life - and they might also win a couple of cups here and there, also.

Therefore, in my opinion, the success of Real isn't whether they win championships, but whether the team draws in the marketplace, that is, does the team earn money through merchandising and ticket sales.

The owners of Real will never admit it, because they need the belief (read: money) from the fan that the team will compete, but I think it's all about the board room.
James

Stupid Real Madrid, and this is coming from a supporter. With Granero back why the hell would they need Alonso. Obviously they don't have faith in their Cantera. I'm sick of this, I'm sick of them!
Corbin

thing is, if youre on the madrid board, which is more important to win, La Liga or CL? if madrid manage to win one and not the other, is it still considered failure?
OhYes

With that much money, they better find a way to win the EPL, too.