Real Madrid still hold market power when the transfer playing field is level – as Rudiger proves

When transfer fees are not a factor, Real Madrid remain the club to beat. After David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger, Erling Haaland may be next.

There was a time when Real Madrid bulldozed the transfer market. They had financial power and a reputation upon which Florentino Perez built his first presidential manifesto in 2000, subsequently shaping the entire internal and external perception of the team in the 21st century. In the age before the state-owned super club, there was the bank-backed super club.

Madrid’s dominance stemmed back to Perez’s promise to lure Luis Figo from arch-rivals Barcelona. Even Figo didn’t want that to happen at first, but it suddenly became abundantly clear that Perez, upon his election, was in the game to shake things up. He certainly wasn’t there to make friends; the aim was to build a team as marketable on the pitch as off it. Every year, a player of Figo’s ilk followed him to the Santiago Bernabéu. First it was Zinedine Zidane, then Ronaldo and finally David Beckham. By 2003, the Galactico project was complete.

Figo. Ronaldo. Carlos. Zidane. Beckham.

What a wall. pic.twitter.com/5QNOS9OZBV

— Football Factly (@FootballFactly) November 21, 2017

Everybody knows the story by now. It didn’t work, mainly because of Perez’s aversion to the substance that was needed to complement the style. No coach of any worth was given a chance because that would have meant a power struggle. The mantra may as well have been ‘put these players on the pitch and cross your fingers’.

Raging inequalities and preferential treatment gradually began to sever the dressing room, and the lack of trophies – one league title and a Champions League – coupled with the rise of Joan Laporta’s Barcelona, meant Perez wasn’t given a