The Great White Evil. | burgundy's Blog

So we can add Silvio Berlusconi and Arsene Wenger to the list of soccer luminaries, this week, who think Real Madrid's spending spree is in bad taste and bad for the sport.

Funny thing, though. If one reviews FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players one can find an amazing amount of information. For example, with the signing of Xabi Alonso, the following clubs received the following compenstation according to a recent article on www.as.com.

Antiguoko, a previously unheard of youth club with no teams above the 15 year old category is getting 600,000 euros out of the Alonso transfer. That's right, a bunch of little kids are about to get some new stuff thanks to Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid and Rafa Benitez. Real Sociedad gets 800,000 euros which the one-time first division stalwart sorely needs and even the previously unknown Eibar, where he played on loan for six months in 2000, gets 100,000 euros.

So we must ask ourselves, are both Berlusconi and Wenger just the most recent additions to a list of soccer standouts who are unaware of FIFA transfer regulations? Are they unconcerned with the survival of soccer clubs not playing at an elite level? Or are they simply upset that a club with no "figurehead style" ownership is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at rebuilding Real Madrid Club de Futbol? Maybe they're jealous since both Arsenal and AC... wait one second....

Is AC Milan even playing in the Champions League this year or are they going to get beaten out of the UEFA Cup again?

I forget, sometimes, that the once prestigious AC Milan really is just another feather in Berlusconi's cap thesedays - useful only to get their number one star, Berlusconi himself, seen in public. Hopefully he has enough class not to have hookers in his owner's box during the games.

Mr. Wenger, perhaps the best pure tactician in the game today, on the other hand is decidedly more analytical in his criticism. The Professor came out recently and accused Real Madrid of 'financial doping' - in reference to his native country's own Tour de France problems with the use of illegal substances in order to get the best results. I find it odd that a man who prides himself on operating only within the strict budgetary limits of his club had no qualms whatsoever about Madrid's tactics when he was on the top of Real Madrid's coaching list. Why the sudden criticism? I mean, let's be frank, we didn't even wrest Wenger's precious little wunderkind, Cesc Fabregas, away from Highbury. We didn't hardly involve ourselves in the Arshavin sweepstakes.

Why all the fuss from two men who should know better? Envy.

No other club has the financial pull that Real Madrid does and despite how that may or may not please people - this club was built piece by piece and it has earned it's spot as the club team with the most titles in the world. Love him or hate him, Florentino Perez put club money where Calderon's mouth was and brought in the players he wanted to see at the Bernabeu. Many talk about this move, in a crisis, as being callous or vicious.

However, in light of how much money gets moved around let's not forget to examine the details, to follow the money as it were, before we sit in judgment of others who have decided to take a different road. Yesterday 22,000 people in Toronto paid to see Real Madrid practice.

Maybe, just maybe, Florentino's spending is about more than Florentino. When you are the best, as Luis Figo has said recently, you have an obligation to put the best product forward. Perhaps Florentino has decided, in his old age, to disregard what other - lesser clubs - think, and try to construct the best team possible, regardless of the costs.

Sounds good to me. It probalby has made a couple of clubs where Xabi Alonso used to play happy as well.

[All information taken from www.as.com, because Marca blows.]