Why Real Madrid’s transfer policy has changed

Real Madrid has had another quiet summer, despite the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Here are a few reasons for the club’s new transfer policy.

Another summer transfer window has seemed to breeze by Real Madrid. Los Blancos certainly took part in the silly season, with Cristiano Ronaldo departing the Spanish capital for Juventus and Alvaro Oridzola arriving from Real Sociedad and Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea standing as the club only arrivals so far.

It has been four years since Real Madrid last signed a real Galactico. Madrid hasn’t spent more than 50 million for any player in that period during a time when 50 million transfer fees for players have doubled. It leaves many longtime supporters of the club slightly confused. Now, with under a month till the transfer window closes and having lost the UEFA Supercup, it seems now is the time to spend. However, it would appear that Perez and co disagree.

So what gives with this new calm (some would say complacent) outlook from the club’s board and why are Real Madrid no longer Europe’s most notorious spenders? Here are a few reasons why.

It’s not for a lack of effort

As Vitolo tucks home the sealing fourth, a beleaguered Florentino Perez looks away from the match on TV and limps over to his coffers to count his pennies. As he tallies away the millions that he made from offloading talented stars and not spending in the last four transfer windows, he cackles out of pure maddening greed, miles away in Tallinn, Julen Lopetegui sheds a tear at how under-invested his squad is and wonders how he was duped by that old Spanish mizer into taking the job in the first place.

According to a select band of Madridistas, this is why Los Blancos transfer policy has taken the U-turn we have seen in the last four years. For whatever reason, Perez has become complacent about his squad and has decided to save his money rather than invest it in the squad.

For many reasons, it is hard to believe that Perez and his board have suddenly become complacent especially considering the Spanish businessman’s track record, we are talking about a coach who was Europe’s most prominent spender for over a decade, a man who sacked his manager and sold half the team just after they had won the La Liga title. It is also important to remember that Perez was sharp enough to pick up Alvaro Oridzola and Thibaut Courtois this summer at bargain prices and has snatched away some of Europe’s brightest talent in the last four summers.

One feels that if anyone wanted to splurge the cash the last two summers, it was Perez, but as The Real Champs discussed on a recent podcast, it’s not as easy as it once was for Los Blancos. The club has been linked with every superstar it could be linked with from Neymar to Harry Kane, however, the club has consistently had the door slammed in its face when they approach such superstars. Monaco’s vice president claimed that Madrid had an offer for Mbappe accepted last summer, but the French youngster opted for his boyhood club instead. He publicly announced these reasons in an interview last December and reaffirmed his commitment to the club this summer after the World Cup, despite some fans believe that Madrid rejected Mbappe over wages.

Neymar was also another star who Real Madrid was linked with this summer, however, the Brazilan also confirmed he’d stay in France after the World Cup, having previously called the rumours annoying.  Robert Lewandowski looked ready for a move away from Bavaria at the start of the summer, but his dreams of a move were quickly shut down. Even a stop-gap option like Rodrigo Moreno had a 120 million price tag slapped on him as soon as Madrid came sniffing around.

It would be naive to claim that Madrid is completely innocent of any slip-ups in the last two years (perhaps wages really were an issue with Mbappe), however, to act like the club hasn’t tried to reinforce the squad over the last two years or that Florentino Perez is complacent is equally naive. One might wonder, why was it so easy for Madrid to lure superstars to the Bernabeu in the past, which brings us on to the next point.