Florentino Perez returns to Real

Football managers who are trying to hold onto their best attacking players are readying themselves for a fraught summer. Florentino Perez, the President who brought the concept galacticos superstar footballers to Real Madrid during his previous stint at the club, will be reappointed as its president today, after no other candidate put their name forward for the job.

Incumbent Ramon Calderon had to step down from his post at Real Madrid after a court in the capital found that he had interfered with the postal vote when he was narrowly elected in 2006, Perez, flanked by no lesser figure than Zinedine Zidane, a former galctico himself, is set to return to the famous club.

To become the President of Real Madrid, the club’s laws dictate that you must be Spanish, and have been a member of the club for the last ten years. And as you need to provide a bank guarantee for 15 per cent of the club's budget, you also need to have €55m.

Perez, 61, a self-made billionaire who runs a construction company, fills all these criteria, and many Real supporters have fond memories of the success the club enjoyed during his stint as president between 2000 and 2006.

During this time, players of the calibre of Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham and Brazilian striker Ronaldo joined the club. But things turned sour after Perez refused to invest in defensive players after Claude Makelele left the club.

He once famously criticised the French midfielder, saying that:  "We will not miss Makelele. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways."

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Sid Lowe, the Guardian: "With Perez comes players. Big players. Or at least the unuttered promise of them, the threat to other clubs. Manchester City's failure does not look a coincidence now; United's ability to throw off a bid for Ronaldo does not look so steadfast. Former Madrid sporting director Arrigo Saachi…insisted that 'Perez will return and he'll go for the three [Messi, Ronaldo, and Kaka]'...Sacchi did fire a warning, telling Pérez to stick to being a president. It is a telling remark: Perez subverted the normal rules of sporting success, distrusting his staff, interfering where he should not and going through four directors of football, six coaches and 20 players in just three years."

BBC Sport: "Perez has not mentioned any names regarding top signings but the Spanish media has reported that Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, currently at Villarreal, is set to become coach in place of Juande Ramos and that AC Milan's Brazilian playmaker Kaka is the number one player target. Real have also been strongly linked to Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Liverpool's Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso and Bayern Munich's French winger Franck Ribery." ·