World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

RISEOFRONALDO 41

REALMADRID

LEFT:Galacticos...

(lefttoright) Beckham,

Ronaldo,Rauland

JulioBaptista

eementwithAdidasavailablebut thebasicformula
ameforclubsall over theworldandmost will be
ttoearn muchmorethan£12 pershirt. Farfrom
hefigurethusbecomes£12m.Andby buyingtwo
,o youreallydoublesales?Won’tpotentialKaka
ersbuya Ronaldooneinstead?Howmanykids
aletopersuadetheirparentsto buyboth?Isn’t
l ertradinginanotherplayer’s market?
nt just shirtseither. Youcannotsuddenlyexploit
ig thatisalreadybeingexploited.Itisone thing
club’s incomewhenyou startfromsucha lowbase
didsoimpressivelyin 2000. ButlastyearMadrid’s
notprofit)was£ 313 m.Perez is nottobeaiming
iion(hisaimis£430m),butit is instructive that
t comparisondoesnotwork.
lrly,evenifVIPsalesweredown,theywerestill
£1mandtheyhada better attendance(in terms
vae againststadiumsize,atover 9 0 percent)than
inLaLiga.
ithere a TVdealupforrenewal,with five yearsleft
onthe oneRamonCalderonclaimedwas worth£850mbut
infactiscloserto£5 14 m.
Despitethosefears,Perezinsiststhathismodelis
necessaryandhe hasacademicevidencetosupporthis
case.ProfessorSimonChadwick, director of theCentrefor
theInternationalBusinessofSport at CoventryUniversity,
saysthatKakaandRonaldocouldbringinanadditional
£100ma seasonto RealMadrid.Butwillit be enough?
Andevenif it is,isn’tthere somethingmissing:the football?
Oneof thestrikingthingsaboutPerez’s secondspellin
chargeofRealMadridisthatsomuchhasbeensaidabout
themoneyandsolittleaboutwhatgoesonoutonthepitch.
Ithas beenclaimedthatBeckham broughtinnearly£350m
inmerchandisingalone,increasingprofits1 37 percentover
hisfirstthreeseasons.Evenifthatistrue,thereis onemajor
flaw: Beckhammighthavesoldshirtsbutduringthosethree
seasonshedidn’twina thing.

WHOKNOWSWHATWILLHAPPEN?
Nooneyetknowswhatwill happenwithMadridthistime
round.Theycouldbe fantasticandthereis no escaping
theexcitement fansarefeeling.But there arestill areasof
uncertainty. ThecoachManuelPellegriniwasunveiledand
thenimmediatelypackedoffon holidayinsilence.What
ishisrole?Hashe helpedchoose Madrid’s targets?Will
hebehandedfullauthority?
WhenPerezannouncedhisformalcandidacythistime
round,headmittedto just onemistakelast time:leaving.
Therewasnomentionofthefoursportingdirectors,six
coachesandover£375mworthofplayershe’dbeen

throughinhisfinalthreeyears,

thesacking of VicenteDelBosque

minutesafter he’d wontheleague

title,ortheplayerswhofelt

marginalised.

Therewasnomentionofthe

factthatinPerez’s finalfouryears,

havinginheriteda EuropeanCup-

winningteamand havingwon the

competitionagainin 20 02,Madrid

slippedsteadilybackwards in the

ChampionsLeague:semi-finalists

in 20 03,thenquarters,thenlast

16 two yearsrunning– theirworst

performancesince 1 995.There was

nomentionofFigo’scomplaintthat

“itall wentwrongwhenmarketing

tookpreferenceoverfootball”.

AndtherewascertainlynomentionofthefactthatPerez

walkedout as Madridclosedinontheirworsttrophyless

droughtforhalfa century.

Ofcourse,therewouldn’tbe.Hewas tryingtogetelected.

Butnordid there appearto be anyself-examination.Can

walkingawayreallyhavebeenhis only mistake? Apparently

so.Givena chance,he’ddoitall over again.Onlymore

so.GalacticosII. Bigger, yes,butbetterthanbefore?

Year Player Clubs Fee

1905 AlfCommon SunderlandtoMiddlesbrough £1, 000

1922 SydPuddefoot WestHamUnitedto Falkirk £5,0 00

1922 Warney Cresswell South ShieldstoSunderland £5,5 00

1928 DavidJack BoltonWandererstoArsenal £10,890

1932 BernabeFerreyra Tigre to RiverPlate £23, 000

1952 HansJeppson Atalanta to Napoli £52, 000

1954 JuanSchiaffino PenaroltoMilan £72,0 00

1957 EnriqueOmarSivori River Plate toJuventus £93, 000

1961 LuisSuarez BarcelonatoInternazionale £15 2 ,000

1963 AngeloSormani MantovatoRoma £250,000

1968 PietroAnastasi VaresetoJuventus £500,000

1973 JohanCruyff Ajaxto Barcelona £922,000

1975 GiuseppeSavoldi Bologna to Napoli £1.2m

1976 PaoloRossi JuventustoVicenza £1.75m

1982 Diego Maradona BocaJuniorsto Barcelona £3m

1984 Diego Maradona BarcelonatoNapoli £5m

1987 RuudGullit PSVto Milan £6m

1990 RobertoBaggio Fiorentina toJuventus £8m

1992 Jean-PierrePapin MarseilletoMilan £10m

1992 GianlucaVialli SampdoriatoJuventus £12m

1992 GianluigiLentini TorinotoMilan £13m

1996 AlanShearer Blackburn Roversto Newcastle Utd £15m

1997 Ronaldo BarcelonatoInternazionale £19.5m

1998 Denilson SaoPauloto RealBetis £21.5m

1999 ChristianVieri LaziotoInternazionale £32m

2000 HernanCrespo Parma to Lazio £35.5m

2000 LuisFigo BarcelonatoRealMadrid £37m

2001 ZinedineZidane JuventustoRealMadrid £47.2m

2009 Kaka MilantoRealMadrid £56m

2009 CristianoRonaldo Manchester UnitedtoRealMadrid£80m

How world-record transfer feeshavegonethroughthe roof

FromAlfCommon to Ronaldo