In a day which saw United accept a world record bid for their prize possession, Cristiano Ronaldo, the world of modern day football took another twist. Reports shows that Real Madrid are amongst the richest club in the world, if not the richest club in the world, and in a quietish couple of years and sensible spending, they apparently saved up quite a lot of money. Looking at their income and Man United’s – the difference is that all of their profit can be spent on transfers including player transfers out such as Robinho and others. Real Madrid have a few advantages over most clubs – being the darling club of the wealthy Spanish presidency as well as having high value television deals and most importantly a share of their player’s image rights.
All of this contributes to a lot of money coming into their club with the only expenditures being the wages. In times of trouble, the Spanish government have often bailed them out with the recent purchase of a training ground for a whopping £200m. The tax levels of high earners also comes into play which means the real terms of wages is significantly lowered comparably to English teams. Couple that with the fact that the club’s debt are held with non aggressive and often lax creditors, it’s understandable to see how this money has become available.
See yesterday’s comments for some more general impasse on this, an excerpt being:
Finally, there’s Real’s status as, effectively, a non-profit social trust. This means they do not need to generate £30 million a year just to service their debt (like United). Most of Madrid’s dent is held with local banks, many of whom are under political and social pressure not to tighten the screws. Real are too big and too important to fail or to come under the kind of debt pressures that affect traditional clubs. The club’s social, political, and economic significance dwarfs that of any other club in the world.
The problem that United face will be to replace him and with £80m that may not be too difficult. Tevez has this morning being linked as the next Real Madrid signing and if this were to happen, it would significantly dent United plans.
The worry as an Arsenal fan, after seeing Ronaldo and Kaka move from their respective clubs is obviously the future of Cesc Fabregas – another player whom Real Madrid and their presidency have publicly coveted and an offer of £45m is thought to be enough to sway the club’s hand in this economic time. But Arsenal plan to build the future around the Spaniard and neither the club nor the player wants to move.
Cesc Fabregas came out yesterday and said:
“Of course I see my future at Arsenal. I have a very long contract with the club. I would have never signed that if I did not think I was capable of making it (to the end of the contract). The boss knows that I really want to stay here. What you cannot stop is what people say about you. The press can write or say whatever they want. Here, I do not get involved at all. Since I am 18, they have been saying that – but I am still here. I just say what I feel – and what I feel is that I hope I can be at Arsenal for many years and lift trophies which they have never lifted before, like the Champions League, to lift the Premier League, FA Cups. I am really looking forward to it because I am sure the future is bright here.”
And I believe there is no greater statement than that in relaying to the fans the desire to stay and move forward with the club – and am grateful that amongst all the current transfers, Cesc has spoken about this. Once our debt is paid off, we’ll be able to compete at the level higher than any other club – we will have no debt and thus our high revenues will ensure that we can compete at the highest level for years to come. Cesc is right – the future is bright, the future is red and white.
Til later, mes amigos, til later.
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