Real Madrid can't break the bank to sign Liverpool's Xabi Alonso

31 July 2009 12:26
For a club that has spent €160m on just two players, one would have imagined that splashing a further few million on a midfielder 'fundamental' to their plans wouldn't be a problem for 'deep-pockets' Florentino Perez. But the Madrid president is rather more frugal when the value of the player in question rests almost exclusively in football terms. Alonso Liverpool eye AquilaniAlonso's transfer requestMen charged over Dalglish grenadeLiverpools Xabi Alonso hands in transfer requestLiverpool Transfer TalkAs it stands, Liverpool and Madrid are at loggerheads over what they see as an acceptable price for the 27-year-old midfielder. Madrid have made an offer of €24m (£20.5m), some way below Liverpool's initial asking price of €40m. Rafa Benítez knows that such a figure is unrealistic and is now holding out for €30m (£26m) which would most likely rise to €33m with incentives. However, Perez is refusing to be budged from his offer of €25m. Should the clubs find a happy medium and the sale go through as expected, it would take Madrid's investment this summer past the €200m mark, and raise questions, again, about the policy that Perez has adopted since his return as president, since when he has taken out huge loans from the Spanish banks Caja Madrid and Santander. Perez's abandon with the credit card has stunned chief executives at other top clubs, such as David Gill at Manchester United, who said that it is difficult to rationalise the money they are spending. 'I don't understand the economics of what Real Madrid are doing,' he said. 'Their turnover is not materially different to ours so I am not quite sure how they can make the profits to justify the salaries. It's none of my business, I suppose, but I don't think they can." Perez's philosophy is exactly the same is it was in his first and second terms in the office of president at the club. By defining players as "investment-footballers" and "cost-footballers', he argues that revenue generated by shirt signings and other promotional sources (much the same as big name film stars ensure huge first weekend box office takings) will end up paying for the outlay. So while he was happy to sign off £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo and £56m for Kaka, he is reluctant to pay extortionate prices for Alonso because he does not believe that the Spaniard will make the money back in the same way. He is, however, important on a purely footballing basis. Perez has made no secret that he intends to sell a number of players this summer - ostensibly to decrease the squad size from 30 to 25, but just as importantly to recoup some of their expenditure. Given that Madrid's debt hovers at, according to estimates in Spain, €500m, however, what the club really need to do is get those shirts shifting. That is Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka's job.

Source: Telegraph