<a href="http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,946976,00.html" target="_blank">http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,946976,00.html</a>
As it was with Figo, Ronaldo and Zidane, so it will be with Beckham
Never believe a denial from the Real president
Once again, Real Madrid are eyeing up a superstar. Once again, Europe's leading club are certain to get their man.
The superstar is David Beckham and the story is becoming identical to when Madrid signed Zinedine Zidane two years ago and Ronaldo last summer. The actors change but the plot - and its denouement - is ever the same.
That is because the man who will pen this latest chapter in European football his tory is the 56-year-old Madrid president, Florentino Perez, a Spanish businessman whose dream since boyhood was always to preside over his beloved Real. That finally happened in the summer of 2000, in elections held just a month after the club had extended its legacy by winning an eighth European Cup.
Perez has a history of turning the unlikely into reality. The reigning president in 2000, Lorenzo Sanz, was convinced he would be the only candidate in the campaign thanks to that emotional triumph in the Champions League just four weeks earlier.
He was proven hopelessly wrong. Perez was then, as now, ready to take risks. Sanz was also convinced that if anyone actually did try to take him on he would beat the upstart easily. Wrong again, because Perez had weighed up his opponent correctly. In Perez's lexicon there is no word for failure.
The 60,000 supporters who were entitled to vote gave unqualified support to Perez who, in his hustings campaign, had promised many things but two in particular: to unshackle the club from the enormous debt that was strangling it - almost £260m - and to bring to Madrid Luis Figo, the darling of their bitter rivals Barcelona, as the first of a galaxy of footballing stars.
Perez promised to turn Real into the modern version of the team that thrilled to the skills of Di Stefano, Puskas and Gento. Against all conceivable odds, Perez signed Figo, bringing a new, astonishing twist to the eternal history of enmity between Spain's two most famous clubs.
Perez put £45m of his own money on the table and, thanks to the massive salary with which he tempted Figo, did not have great difficulty in convincing the Portuguese midfielder.
Getting rid of the debt seemed a stroll in the park, too. Perez, a master schmoozer and a maestro in the world of construction, had excellent contacts in both the Popular Party, who ruled the city and regional governments, and in the Socialist Party, who were in opposition.
He had to convince them of the importance for Real to sell their training ground in order to erase their traditional debt. Part two of his pitch was that the city of Madrid would receive a fabulous plot of land which it needed in order to bid for the 2012 Olympic games.
Around the indoor arena that will be constructed will also be built four commercial skyscrapers that will raise £300m to fund the project. With the sale of the Ciudad Deportiva, Perez got round to fulfilling his other promise: signing the superstars. But they were outside Spain and to get them he could not use a "get-out" clause in their contracts as he had with Figo.
Negotiations were long, arduous and hard-nosed. But Juventus would eventually sell Zidane to Madrid for £43m, the most expensive transfer in football history.
One year later in summer 2002 Perez fell under Ronaldo's spell. The same process clicked smoothly into action. Inter's angry protestations at Perez's manner and actions were loud.
Real and Inter, along with Juve and Manchester United, are in the G14 group of clubs that have signed a treaty not to seduce each other's players behind each other's back.
Facing a scandal, Real Madrid had to issue a public statement saying that they were not interested in Ronaldo. But the negotiations with the Brazilian striker continued. Inter's complaints were loud and furious after Ronaldo hopped on a plane for £29.2m.
Now we are all getting a strong sense of déjà vu. United, just like Inter and Barcelona, are angry about Madrid's perceived interference in their affairs. Madrid, again, have backtracked publicly, issuing a statement on Tuesday that insisted they have no interest in Beckham.
The same as happened with Zidane. The same as with Ronaldo. This will be a long, hot summer in Madrid and Manchester. And, unless something extraordinary happens, Beckham will be playing his football in the Santiago Bernabeu next season
Eduardo Torrico is a senior editor for AS newspaper in Madrid
As it was with Figo, Ronaldo and Zidane, so it will be with Beckham
Never believe a denial from the Real president
Once again, Real Madrid are eyeing up a superstar. Once again, Europe's leading club are certain to get their man.
The superstar is David Beckham and the story is becoming identical to when Madrid signed Zinedine Zidane two years ago and Ronaldo last summer. The actors change but the plot - and its denouement - is ever the same.
That is because the man who will pen this latest chapter in European football his tory is the 56-year-old Madrid president, Florentino Perez, a Spanish businessman whose dream since boyhood was always to preside over his beloved Real. That finally happened in the summer of 2000, in elections held just a month after the club had extended its legacy by winning an eighth European Cup.
Perez has a history of turning the unlikely into reality. The reigning president in 2000, Lorenzo Sanz, was convinced he would be the only candidate in the campaign thanks to that emotional triumph in the Champions League just four weeks earlier.
He was proven hopelessly wrong. Perez was then, as now, ready to take risks. Sanz was also convinced that if anyone actually did try to take him on he would beat the upstart easily. Wrong again, because Perez had weighed up his opponent correctly. In Perez's lexicon there is no word for failure.
The 60,000 supporters who were entitled to vote gave unqualified support to Perez who, in his hustings campaign, had promised many things but two in particular: to unshackle the club from the enormous debt that was strangling it - almost £260m - and to bring to Madrid Luis Figo, the darling of their bitter rivals Barcelona, as the first of a galaxy of footballing stars.
Perez promised to turn Real into the modern version of the team that thrilled to the skills of Di Stefano, Puskas and Gento. Against all conceivable odds, Perez signed Figo, bringing a new, astonishing twist to the eternal history of enmity between Spain's two most famous clubs.
Perez put £45m of his own money on the table and, thanks to the massive salary with which he tempted Figo, did not have great difficulty in convincing the Portuguese midfielder.
Getting rid of the debt seemed a stroll in the park, too. Perez, a master schmoozer and a maestro in the world of construction, had excellent contacts in both the Popular Party, who ruled the city and regional governments, and in the Socialist Party, who were in opposition.
He had to convince them of the importance for Real to sell their training ground in order to erase their traditional debt. Part two of his pitch was that the city of Madrid would receive a fabulous plot of land which it needed in order to bid for the 2012 Olympic games.
Around the indoor arena that will be constructed will also be built four commercial skyscrapers that will raise £300m to fund the project. With the sale of the Ciudad Deportiva, Perez got round to fulfilling his other promise: signing the superstars. But they were outside Spain and to get them he could not use a "get-out" clause in their contracts as he had with Figo.
Negotiations were long, arduous and hard-nosed. But Juventus would eventually sell Zidane to Madrid for £43m, the most expensive transfer in football history.
One year later in summer 2002 Perez fell under Ronaldo's spell. The same process clicked smoothly into action. Inter's angry protestations at Perez's manner and actions were loud.
Real and Inter, along with Juve and Manchester United, are in the G14 group of clubs that have signed a treaty not to seduce each other's players behind each other's back.
Facing a scandal, Real Madrid had to issue a public statement saying that they were not interested in Ronaldo. But the negotiations with the Brazilian striker continued. Inter's complaints were loud and furious after Ronaldo hopped on a plane for £29.2m.
Now we are all getting a strong sense of déjà vu. United, just like Inter and Barcelona, are angry about Madrid's perceived interference in their affairs. Madrid, again, have backtracked publicly, issuing a statement on Tuesday that insisted they have no interest in Beckham.
The same as happened with Zidane. The same as with Ronaldo. This will be a long, hot summer in Madrid and Manchester. And, unless something extraordinary happens, Beckham will be playing his football in the Santiago Bernabeu next season
Eduardo Torrico is a senior editor for AS newspaper in Madrid
