The Real cost of revolution

*Blog post by BFF member Jericho

Having suffered the shame of of watching arch-rivals Barcelona sweep all before their path (including a famous 2-6 reverse at the Bernabeu) to win a historic treble of the Champions League, La Liga and King's Cup and win plaudits for the football they played in doing so, Real Madrid are desperate to break Barcelona's dominance. So they've turned to the man who was at the helm in their much publicised Galacticos era, Florentino Perez.

Perez's plan is to bring back the good old days by splashing the cash and going for immediate success. It's a strategy that has been tried before with varying levels of failure. The strategy for buying superstar names and trying to build a team around them is nothing new. What is new is the level of resolve shown by the market to be not bullied into submission. Having paid over the odds for Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema, the rest of Europe has been alerted to the Real "revolution" so naturally, prices for the players that Madrid are interested in are going to sky-rocket which has boxed Perez into a corner. And there is nothing Madrid can do about it. Whilst every player may dream of turning out for Bernabeu side, other football clubs don't hold Madrid in the same high regard. Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has this to say regarding the transfer of Franck Ribery to Madrid "Everybody is speaking about Ribery's transfer. Above all Zidane says 'blah, blah, blah.' It seems a lack of respect to us."

It's easy to be impressed with Madrid's transfer dealings so far this year. Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo are both recent FIFA World Player Of The Year winners (Ronaldo is the reigning Player of The Year). Benzema is a highly regarded talent who has long been linked with leading European clubs. So the players come with some pedigree but on closer inspection, none of those players were hard transfers even if their transfer values suggest otherwise. AC Milan were willing to sell Kaka to Manchester City in January and that would have hurt Kaka. Combine that with Carlo Ancelotti's inevitable departure from the San Siro to replace Hiddink at Chelsea, Milan's decline in Serie A and Europe and the Brazilian's transfer was a mere formality. Ronaldo has never made secret of his desire to join Madrid. And with him having scored over 40 goals in the season before last, winning both Champions League and Premier League, it was always going to be hard to top those achievements. Benzema's only ever played in Ligue 1 for Lyon. A league whose lack of competitiveness is matched only by its absolute lack of entertainment. A move to a better league was always a certainty. None of these players really wanted to stay at their former clubs nor were their clubs particularly committed to keeping them. Madrid have been blinded by the ease of these marque signings. The footballing signings are prove far tougher.

And with that we come to the point... those of you who follow the internets may be familiar with Real's pursuit of Liverpool's Xabi Alonso. You also might be privy to the fact that Xabi Alonso wants to leave Liverpool because of the fall-out between himself and Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez. This really should be an easy transfer to close out then and yet it still has not. The problem is Real's arrogance. Perez has made numerous reference to investment footballers (Kaka, Ronaldo) and cost footballers (Alonso) and while he values the former highly, he has exhibited considerable contempt for the far more valuable latter. Star players are great and Perez's fascination with them is understandable but no team can succeed without "cost" footballers. You would have thought Perez would have learnt from the last time how big name players (especially at Madrid where they are treated like royalty) have an alarmingly laissez-faire attitude to graft. But Perez is not a man who you would associate with (good) reasoning.

Unfortunately for him, Rafa Benitez is famously stubborn. This is man whose zonal marking system has been subjected to ridicule by virtually everyone in the game and he never once budged from his stance. He seems to have taken a similar line over Madrid's pursuit of the Liverpool supporter's player of the year. Rumours have emerged in recent weeks that Alonso had submitted a transfer request but this is denied by Alonso's representatives and even if it were true, it's unlikely that a request to leave Anfield would change Liverpool's valuation of the midfielder. Benitez would be happy to keep the fan favourite which would give a massive boost to his outfit's title challenge. He's also equally resigned to selling him but only if the price is right. Either way, he wins.

Liverpool are not alone in their battle to keep their important players from joining Madrid. Valencia's David Villa and Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery have also been linked with the Spanish team but so far, neither player's team appear willing to be bullied into a cut-price by Madrid. By going public with their intentions and brazenly throwing his wealth around, Perez has opened himself to being held ransom over player prices. Liverpool were prepared to sell Alonso to Juventus for almost half of the fee they're quoting Madrid. Having thrashed Madrid 5-0 over two legs in last season's Champions League knock-out stages, Liverpool are well within their rights to demand more for a player who will be joining a European rival. Bayern Munich haven't been quite the European force they once were but if Frenchman Ribery can find consistent form, they would be targeting a return to battling for European glory. They too are reluctant to bow to pressure from the Bernabeu team.

Throughout the summer Madrid have used all their usual tricks to try and prise their targets but so far none have worked. With the Spanish season not kicking off until late August, Madrid are willing to play the waiting game but it's unlikely any deals will be struck at the current prices. Whatever happens, they'll be finding out that revolution is quite an expensive business. It's a sentiment Manchester City can share.

*Blog post by BFF member Jericho