da bet vitoria： Credit, as always, goes to Daniel Levy in attempting to squeeze the life out of his counterpart at the other end of table. Going into negotiations with clubs like Manchester United and now Real Madrid has its benefits – if everything falls into place in favour of the Tottenham chairman, he can more or less demand the highest fee possible, certainly surpassing the market value of the player in question.
da supremo： Whatever the eventual figure may be in the Gareth Bale transfer, Spurs will be better off for it. Money has already been reinvested, and should the final piece of the puzzle come in – specifically Erik Lamela – Tottenham will have a stronger squad this season than at any point during Bale’s time at White Hart Lane.
But that’s one side of the issue, that’s all Tottenham’s benefits. The other side, the baffling, illogical, football-comes-second side is Florentino Perez and his insatiable hunger for more star names, or Galacticos.
Forget for a moment that Real Madrid may break the transfer record for Bale – though Cristiano Ronaldo’s camp are certainly pushing for that not to happen – and take in the unnecessary strains the Madrid president is not only placing on his squad but also his new manager Carlo Ancelotti.
It’s well known by now that Perez doesn’t work by the football handbook, rather the merchandising and revenue alternative. Gareth Bale, an English speaking footballer first and foremost, will allow Madrid to crack the markets in North America where the Premier League is apparently king. The money generated from Bale’s shirt sales will also see a sharp upturn in revenue, though it’s hugely unlikely it will be akin to Zinedine Zidane’s figures or Ronaldo, the original one (it’s ok to call him that, right?).
Those are among the primary objectives of this deal. Perez wants a ‘marquee’ name after missing out on Neymar to Barcelona, as if he needs to make up for some kind of humiliation. On the football front, the attacking side of the team is being ripped up – though in some cases for the better – while Ancelotti is forced to turn a new-look Madrid into an instant success.
The likely sales that could take place are Mesut Ozil, who has apparently been given the impression he’s expendable, Angel Di Maria and Karim Benzema. From a football standpoint, there can be no sense in moving on a 24-year-old Ozil, who is certainly in the top three No 10s in world football, probably the best, for a player like Bale.
The question of “where will Bale play” isn’t a throwaway one, either. Ronaldo has obviously made the left side of attack his own since Jose Mourinho took over the managerial position following Manuel Pellegrini’s single season in charge. Isco, another major signing this summer, is more than capable of replacing Ozil behind the striker. That of course leaves the right side, regularly taken up by Di Maria and on occasion Ozil. Real Madrid need players who can unlock defences, and swapping out two players who offer that in Ozil and Di Maria for Bale, who isn’t known for that aspect of the game, is further lunacy on the part of the president. Then there’s also the matter of Kaka, Alvaro Morata and Jese.
The point of the matter is that there are so many negatives that are likely to come from this – the loss of Ozil, Di Maria and the further frustration of Luka Modric once Xabi Alonso and Asier Illarramendi return to fitness, as well as the huge likelihood of a clash between Bale and Ronaldo – over something as trivial as a president wanting his transfer trophy.
Ancelotti was brought in this summer to bring a semblance of calm back into the Madrid camp, and of course because Perez saw a perfect opportunity to bring in a manager that he has attempted to recruit on multiple occasions in the past. But there is nothing calm about the summer storm that is spilling into this season. The positives were that a good team, a great attacking team, in fact, were now supplemented by young, exciting, Spanish players; it’s more or less what the supporters wanted. Bringing in Bale, a player who the team certainly don’t need, will do far more to upset the equilibrium at the club than maintain it. The Galactico approach has been far from a success in the past.
Is Florentino Perez’s pursuit of Bale driven by personal greed, or success for Real Madrid?
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