Mujib Kasule
Kampala
You have to marvel at Florentino Perezs audacity to start on a second galactico II project, given the spectacular failure of the first one! Classifying this gentleman is no mean task. Is he stubborn, barmy or a genius? Maybe therein lies the dilemma because all the aforementioned virtues are cousins of some sort!
Through his record and dealings, one thing is certain; Perez is a man with a ruthless and conviction that will always make him believe that he has the perfect idea on how to achieve his goals. This might have served him well in the business world, but as proven time and time again, the blue prints of success in the boardroom and the pitch are not always interchangeable.
After the euphoria of breaking the world record transfer fee twice inside a week, the actual realities of putting together a balanced squad capable of competing at the very top consistently will set in to severely test a lot of pampered egos.
First, because of his nature, Perez will never allow managers 100% control of team matters that all top managers demand and crave. So he will keep hiring and firing them at a whim. Its difficult to foresee a settled Madrid camp under Perez. Sadly for Madrid diehards who were hoping his time out of the game had changed him, such characters never change their spots.
Secondly, when you put this expensively assembled cast together in one dressing room, it does not matter who you put at the helm to lead them, cajole them for results, motivate, scold and psyche them. Egos will be too big and too many to handle. Throw in the galacticos who will always be the big mans darlings and you have a real problem, pun fully intended. Heck, Sigmund Freud will have a problem balancing this squad and keeping everyone happy!
Thirdly, its the World Cup season. All the galacticos and non-galacticos will be knocking on the managers door every week, demanding for playing time. This is hard enough for managers of lesser clubs with no galactico power to deal with, I shudder to imagine how Manuel Pellegrini will handle this. Imagine having to substitute Ronaldo or Kaka to bring on Karim Benzema! The player going out will be as unhappy as the player coming on. Thankfully for him, this Madrid debacle will be over in a short while. He will not last long.
Madrid have let about eight youth players leave while on the contrary, arch rivals, Barca are promoting their academy players to the first team with effortless ease. In the final against Man United, coach Pep Guardiola, Victor Valdes, Carlos Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergie Busquets, Xavi Creus Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi all starred and had one commodity that Madrid can only dream of Barca blood that runs through their veins.
All these have come through the ranks at their beloved club and have that one commodity that normally breeds success that try as he might, Perez will never be able to buy. So what is the true cost of success? Imagine this, while Ronaldo huffed and puffed in that final, his marker Puyol had one of his best and easiest games for Barca in a long time. Ronaldo cost 80 million pounds, but Puyol!?
Somewhere in the region of zero. Real will line up Kaka (56m), Wesley Sneider/Rafael Van der Vaart (combined 45m) and Gago (10m)against Barcas Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, all of whom cost nothing.
So at the risk of monotony, what is the true cost of success? For all their prowess as a big club, Madrid will find it hard to mould the continuity and loyalty of players that so helped them to win trophies in the era of Ivan Helguera, Michel Salgado, Raul Gonzalez, Aitor Karanka and Ivan Campo; players who actually gave a damn about the club. Next time you are watching a Real Madrid game and things are not going exactly to plan, look out for Casillas, Guti and Raul. If by some crazy chance you dont know them, look closer. They will be the ones fighting to do anything about it. Unfortunately one of them is in goal and apart from making one thousand spectacular saves in a single match, he cant do much to help the team score!
So if Perez has come back to save Madrid with the same policy that put the club in the endangered position they are in today, maybe he sees something different from the rest of us. But I am yet to meet anyone who shares his sentiments. After all, the only European sides that have played terrific football and won the treble in one season had one thing in common a lot of home grown talent and a distinct lack of big time charlies in their squad. So, somebody help me out; what is the true cost of success?
