There was a time when the principality of Monaco was called the rich man's playing field. The scene has shifted to Madrid, it seems, and that too for one man, a certain Florentino Perez who took charge of the city's most famous club earlier this year. The real-estate honcho is known for splurging over human commodities, otherwise known as football players, and also gave the soccer world a new word 'Galacticos'.
He is at it again this summer after his not-quite-so-rich rival Barcelona's Joan Laporta smugly adorned Camp Nou's trophy cabinet with three of Europe's best silverwares on offer last season. In the process of acquiring those, Barcelona stained Real's spotless white shirt at Bernabeu with six bullet holes. The reason for Perez to go berserk is understandable.
But the way he broke the bank for two best talents, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, evoked censure from the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, keeping in perspective the global economic slowdown. Together for Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and defender Raul Albiol, Perez shelled out something around £184.6 million. Mind-boggling figure no doubt but there is something called shirt-sells in soccer and businessman Perez is not unaware of it.
What Real Madrid or Spain gained, seemed to be Manchester United or English Premier League's loss. The league, boasting of the highest television audience worldwide, has no real world stars to show for this time. 'World Player of the Year' Ronaldo will now don the white shirt instead of the red. It was the colour that made him the darling of millions from being just another trickster from an inconspicuous island of Medeira (Portugal).
Lionel Messi, on whom rests the mantle of Diego Maradona, is also with Barcelona alongwith the best passer in Europe, Xavi Hernandez. Add to it, Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry and perhaps the enigmatic Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the Blaugrana will continue to spawn magic on green turf.
Currently the best Brazilian attacker, Kaka too is under coach Manuel Pellegrini's expensive fold, eschewing his vows of never swapping anything for an AC Milan shirt. The recession, apparently, forced him to break his vow, he claimed.
So what is the Queen of England left with? Her top club Manchester United is flush with funds after Ronaldo was offloaded. If reports are to be believed, they gained £80 million from the sale of the Portuguese star and also let go of a restless Argentine named Carlos Tevez. He just crossed the road to join Manchester City, another club provided with a seemingly bottomless purse by an oil oligarch from the Arab lands.
If hertz power could have been recorded over the transfer buzz, Real Madrid outshouted the rest of the world, let alone Europe. The buying power of Man United, Roman Abramovich's Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool hardly created a ripple in the world talent pool. In fact, Liverpool is trying to save Xabi Alonso from the greedy eyes of Perez now.
'Professor' Arsene Wenger is also not in the pink of health. The Arsenal coach is set to lose his most potent goal-scoring weapon, Emmanuel Adebayor. Well, thankfully not to a Spanish buyer. Man City's Mark Hughes is supposedly his biggest suitor these days.
What Real are doing in Spain, Man City are trying it out in England. Having sprung a surprise on the last night of the January transfer window snaring Robinho from Real, City made their intentions clear of fearlessly buying into Europe's elite. Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz and England international Gareth Barry are the new additions to Mark Hughes' dressing-room.
In contrast, roubles from Russia are not quite so forthcoming to Chelsea, it seems. So far, their only major signing is Yuri Zhirkhov, a wingback from CSKA Moscow for a meagre £18 million. New coach Carlo Ancelotti's interest in bringing over Kaka to the British Isles was promptly spurned by the Brazilian.
In this generous July, Italy's response has been the most lukewarm. Apart from losing Kaka, they are about to lose Ibrahimovic as well to Spain with an ageing Samuel Eto'o coming to Inter in a swap. Juventus have roped in Felipe Melo, part of Brazil's Confederations Cup-winning team and Robinho's friend Diego from Werder Bremen, while Inter Milan are almost through in sealing the deal with Brazil captain Lucio.
The money changing hands, however, is peanuts compared to what Perez has done. He has set a stupendous benchmark and dared the rest of the owners to play catch up. Once the season starts in August, focus will surely be on Spain though the prime time slot will be for English League in this part of the world. The absence of Cristiano may make Manchester United a little more beatable.
Though Alex Ferguson, the grand old man of managership, has seen the comings and goings of megastars in his never-ending tenure. Already exhorting Wayne Rooney to lead the charge, the Scot has given a new lease of life to Michael Owen. Not often has Fergie's assessment of skills gone wrong. Remember the Teddy Sheringham show in 1999 when United won the treble?
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