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| Perez, Valdano defend Merengues’ spending spree |
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Saturday, July 04, 2009
MADRID: Real Madrid director general Jorge Valdano has defended his side’s spending spree on new players like Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, saying the cash-rich club can afford it.
“Real Madrid is the richest club in the world. It generates a lot of money and this is why it recruits first rate players,” he said after unveiling new defender Raul Albiol, who joined Real from Valencia for a reported fee of 15 million euros late Thursday.
Valdano made the comment when asked by reporters about the criticism by UEFA president Michel Platini over the more then 200 million euros which Real has shelled out for new talent. Real paid 93 million euros to recruit Ronaldo and 65 million euros to secure Kaka from AC Milan.
In an interview published Thursday in French sports daily L’Equipe, Platini said the huge sums of money spent by clubs like Real in the transfer market was “not normal”. Last month he said UEFA was planning action to put an end to football’s excesses.
“These transfers are a serious challenge to the idea of fairplay and the concept of financial balance in our competitions,” he said, adding the new set of rules being developed was UEFA’s “top priority today”.
The club boosted revenues from t-shirts and other souvenirs after it began signing top players like France’s Zinedine Zidane and England’s David Beckham in 2000.
Real Madrid’s capture of Brazilian star Kaka could be worth 100 million dollars a season in additional revenues to the Spanish club, according to sports business consultancy Weber Shandwick Sport.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
