The Real Madrid it has been the great dominator of the transfer market for much of the 21st century. Since the arrival of Florentine Perez to the presidency in 2000, both in its first and second stages, the club's financial capacity has been the key to signing the best players in the world. Figo (60 million euros), Zidane (77) and Ronaldo (45) first, and later, Christian (94), Kaka (67) or Bale (101) arrived at the blow of the checkbook, turning the white team into the tyrant of the market. Nevertheless, money is no longer an advantage.
The state clubs (PSG, funded by Qatar, and Manchester City, for the United Arab Emirates) have become the new millionaires in world football, inflating signings to levels never seen before. Parisians have starred in the two most expensive additions in history (222 million for Neymar and 145 for Mbappé), while the English set has been spent more of 400 million in the last three years. To this must be added the economic power that the Premier League in recent years thanks to television rights.
The construction of the new Bernabéu (500 million of expenses) in addition to the losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic have only accentuated the difference, although the club expects to clean up the accounts in a period of one or two years. All this has caused Madrid to stay in a second step in this aspect. What seems obvious is that you can no longer dominate the market with your wallet and you will have to look for alternatives to make large incorporations.
A galactic for the new Bernabéu
Madrid will fight to sign a great star in the next market. The two names on the table are Mbappé and Haaland. The first has an estimated value of 180 million, according to the specialized website Transfermarkt. The second, of 110, although everything indicates that it will rise a lot before July. Figures that the white team cannot reach. However, you have an alternative plan to sign them. Aware that they cannot reach certain amounts, Madrid will ask either of them for an effort.
If before the conviction came from money, now Madrid chooses to convince from the project. The new Santiago Bernabéu is the claim he uses to attract great players. Either of the two will be the headliner in the renovated stadium, and they will enjoy a long-term contract with conditions in accordance with their figure. Both will be leaders of the young project raised for years. Veterans still sane like Casemiro, Kroos or Varane they will mix with the incorporations of young promises like Rodrygo, Odegaard or Valverde. The idea is that in a few years most of them settle in the first team with Haaland or Mbappé as differential players.
In return, Madrid needs to lower the purchase price as much as possible. For this reason he needs Mbappé to force an exit or wait until 2022, the year his contract ends. In Haaland's case, I would ask you to enforce a clause in your contract that obligates the Borussia Dortmund to facilitate their departure. In addition, he would take advantage of his good relationship with the German team to have priority in his hiring.
Another of the tricks used by the club, more common, is having constant contact with the players' environment. Without going further, Zidane, an idol of most players, he regularly communicates with Mbappé and from the board they speak with his father periodically. The same goes for Haaland. Both are fully aware of the interest of Real Madrid and are delighted.
In a few months it will be determined whether the plan has worked. The money will be important, but Madrid knows that they cannot cement the negotiation on it and that they will have to use other weapons to convince the stars.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of February 18, 2021