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- [00:00]
Ayo Akimolere
Close your eyes.
- [00:02]
Dermot Corrigan
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Ayo Akimolere
So flexible and intuitive it feels like it was built just for you. Notice you're limitless.
- [00:24]
Dermot Corrigan
Limitless, limitless.
- [00:25]
Ayo Akimolere
Now open your eyes.
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Dermot Corrigan
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- [00:30]
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- [01:31]
Ayo Akimolere
The Athletic FC welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Akimolere. On Saturday, Real Madrid players and the president Florentino Perez were booed by fans. On Tuesday, Real Madrid won emphatically in the Champions League as they beat Monaco and it seemed to get the fans back on side. But is Perez still in hot water? Okay, here with us today we have our Real Madrid correspondent, Guillermo Rai and also Dermot Corrigan as well. Gentlemen, let's get into this. Dermot. We'll get to Perez soon, but let's discuss what has been, I guess, a tumultuous time for Madrid. I mean, nothing new really. Alonso sacked fan protests can you just bring us round as to what on earth has been going on?
- [02:18]
Dermot Corrigan
Yeah, tumultuous is definitely the word. There's always drama at Real Madrid. It's one of the fun parts of the job is following all the drama at Real Madrid. But even for Real Madrid, the last couple of weeks have been pretty spectacular. Xabi Alonso, coach, who was appointed last season, was under pressure through the autumn. It looked like he may have saved his job, but then they were beaten in the supercopa by Barcelona. They flew back from Saudi Arabia and the following day Jabi Alonso was fired. Then Arbelo stepped up from the youth team coach to take over the job. His first game in charge brought Copa del Rey humbling exit at second tier. Obviously the first time in history that obviously had ever beaten Real Madrid on super dramatic circumstances. Also with a last minute goal for Albacete that really got a lot of the Real Madrid fans upset. The combination of all those factors and at the weekend of the home game against Levante, there was an outpouring of, of that upset with whistles for Vinicius, for Bellingham, for other players, whistles for Arboloa, and most interestingly, I guess, whistles and chants for Florentino Perez, the president, to resign, which is something that hadn't been seen in a long time. At the Bernabeu, things calmed down a bit last night. It seemed like a lot of the fans got what they had to say off their chest. They were mostly behind the team last night. And it also helps that they hammered a pretty poor Monaco side, 61 to all. But confirm they're going to go through it in the Champions League, which is a bit of a relief for Arabella, a bit of a relief for Florentino, but there's still lots of issues there. It's still going to be difficult job for Arbolo. There's still issues with the squad. Fans were happy enough with the victory that went last night, but if they lose again, who knows what will happen? And Perez has a lot of things to work out as well in the management of the club. So it's a. Even for Real Madrid, it's a really interesting time to be, to be following them.
- [04:03]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah. I mean, Guillermo, much has been made of the booing of certain players. Vinicius Jr. There's been much conversation about Vinicius and how well he performs when the crowd is on his side. Side. Is that what we saw yesterday?
- [04:16]
Guillermo Rai
Well, I don't know really, because at the start of the game, what we could hear, it wasn't as loud as against Levante, as clear as against Levante, but there were some whistles against Vinicius. I think that some of the, of the fans at the Bernabeu still wanted to whistle him to make him feel that they are unhappy. But as the game developed, I think that Vinicius came back and it was more a, I think proof of his personality. I think the trust that his teammates like Mbappe have in him, that's a reality. And I think that because of Mbappe's words before the game, he said that they cannot only blame Vinicius because of the Madrid situation. I think that it helped the fans to realize that it's not only about Bini and Vini. In the end, I think that managed to change the attitude of these fans, of these critics. And in the end, we all heard all the, you know, all the supporting chants in favor of Vinicius, and I think it was his own comeback. Now that we are talking about Real Madrid and we always talk about comebacks, I think that it was definitely a great night for him. Obviously, as he's an emotional player, everyone describes him as that, and he's beloved by his teammates because of that. I think that is necessary that the fan base supports him and it's always helpful for him and better for him because I think he spent like 16 games without scoring. It was a really difficult time for him. I think yesterday he acknowledged in the Brazilian television TNT that it was frustrating for him to face problems inside the field and still hearing voices of concern outside of the field. It didn't help, definitely. Hopefully right now the situation has stabilized a little bit.
- [06:19]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, let's focus on the Champions League for now. Guillermo. Look, they only need a point now in the Champions League to qualify to the next phase. The next team is Benfica that they play. There's a certain Jose Mourinho in charge of Benfica. That's got to be an interesting match, isn't it?
- [06:35]
Guillermo Rai
Yeah, definitely. I mean, the historical links between Mourinho and Real Madrid, he made quite an impact and he's still, say, beloved by some of the Real Madrid fans. And I think his philosophy or his way of doing things, his special way of doing things is still remembered by some Real Madrid players, by Real Madrid executive. So he made quite an impact. It is interesting for Arbelo especially, who was close to Mourinho during his time as Real Madrid coach between 2010 and 2013. I think it's pretty interesting to see how they made or how they meet in the game. And I think, as Arbelon said in the first press conference, I don't think that he's as Mourinho. He said, if I try to be Mourinho, I will fail. I don't have. I'm not afraid of failing. But he suggested that he wasn't going to follow exactly the same path. Still, I think that there are some gestures by Arbeloa that he already made as Real Madrid coach that have similarities to Mourinho, because he made an impact and I think is in the Real Madrid culture nowadays.
- [07:50]
Ayo Akimolere
Well, Derma, you've written a great piece on Florentino Perez this week, and in his two stints as presidents, I mean, it's incredible. 57 trophies and six European Cups. Absolutely outstanding. But I guess his legacy is much more than that, isn't it?
- [08:03]
Dermot Corrigan
Oh, for sure. He. He's up there with. With Santiago Bernabeu as the most successful president or the biggest figures in Real Madrid's entire history. And he's had such an impact on the club both on and off the pitch, when, you know, he took over the presidency in 2000 with the audacious swoop of promising to sign Luis Figo if the fans voted him in as president, and then going to Barcelona and taking Barcelona's best player, Figo, and bringing him to the Bernabeu, which was, you know, super audacious thing to do, and set the line for. For the ambition that he has, for the. The eye to bring in the biggest stars, to get the biggest stars playing for Real Madrid, but which he believes then generates the biggest revenues off the pitch, which makes Madrid the richest club in world football. It makes more than 1 billion euros a year off the pitch. And then on the pitch in his first presidency was a bit of a roller coaster, for sure. They won the Champions League with Zidane and other huge galactico scoring the goal in 2002, but the wheels started to come off pretty quickly after that. Went through a lot of different coaches. And then he ended up resigning as president in 2006, which is when. When Ramon Calderon took over as president. And then in 2009, Florentino came back as president. And since then, he has been not quite as audacious and bombastic, maybe in signing Galacticos as previously, but they've still been really, really successful. They won a lot of Champions Leagues players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos. Meanwhile, off the pitch, Florentino has continued to grow the club's revenues. He's rebuilt the stadium, which is pretty spectacular at the moment. And he's also centralized a lot of power in himself at the club. He's the guy who makes all the big decisions, and the biggest of those decisions at the moment is around potentially selling a stake in the club to an outside investor, which is a super controversial thing to do and which not all fans are in favor of. So when the team weren't playing great, and when they went from Ancelotti to Alonso to Arboa, then they got knocked out of the Copa del Rey last week on top of the Super Copa loss to Barcelona, was when a lot of the frustration came out at the stadium at the weekend. Both, I think, in how poorly the team has played over the last 18 months or so, and also maybe some fans who are not so happy with the, the off the pitch stuff at the Bernabeu at the moment.
- [10:19]
Ayo Akimolere
Yes, Guillermo, I mean, look, we've spoken about the chance against Perez, you know, from a certain section of the Madrid fans. But I mean, look from the outside looking in, I'm looking at the La Liga table. Real Madrid are just one point behind Barcelona. They're in a good position to qualify for the next phase of the Champions League. If either of those two competitions there is still in contention for, it might be a great season. Why this? Why the fans are so upset?
- [10:44]
Guillermo Rai
Well, I think that the first reason is that always the results, sporting results. And as they had just lost against Albacete, as Dermot said previously, I think it was clear that there was unhappiness by the fan base because of that, because of the Xabi Alonso's sacking. I think that fans felt that it wasn't only Xavier Alonso who we all should blame. There were other guilty characters inside this story, probably the board, probably the players themselves, and that's why they whistled the board and the players against Levante. And probably there is another reason now that we are talking about future changes within the club and around the ownership and future investors. I do think that there are, I'd say some fans or some Real Madrid members who feel that they are disconnected to the club's decisions and they felt that the club is taking some decisions, controversial decisions, and they are not really counting on them. They are senior members. Probably they have spent many years and many a lot of money in the club and they think that they have the right to decide what is going on and what will happen. And probably, firstly because of the sporting reasons and secondly because of the institutional or the financial reasons. I'd say that that was like the main thing to explain the whole situation.
- [12:17]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, you guys listened to us. Now we want to hear from you. We're asking you to fill in a quick survey about you and your podcast habits by going to theathletic.com survey26. Three lucky entries will win £100 or $100 worth of Amazon vouchers as well. So whether you're a longtime listener or a new one, we want your feedback. Go to theathletic.com survey26. That's theathletic.com survey 26. The link is also in our episode description. Really Appreciate your time.
- [12:55]
Athletic FC Podcast Announcer
This is the Athletic FC podcast with IO Akimolere.
- [13:01]
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- [14:51]
Ayo Akimolere
Well, look Guillermo, Real Madrid are arguably the biggest club in the world. Can you give us an insight into the pressures it must be like to be the president of a club like this?
- [15:02]
Guillermo Rai
I mean, the level of stress is something difficult to describe, I guess, but eventually you get used to it because otherwise Florentino would then spend 17 years in a row, right, being president. And it must feel good as well. But yeah, I think the level of pressure is directly linked to the level of demand that the president asked to the team president are always asking the coaches and the team to perform and they cannot face two defeats in a row. That's why he also faces this level of demand. But not only from a sporting side of things, also from a financial point of view, I guess, that Real Madrid cannot afford to, for example, have losses in a financial year. They have all these years, I think they have had profits, they Break even. So I think it's a sustainable model, or at least from a financial point of view, because of this level of pressure.
- [16:06]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, I was thinking about the sustainability of this, Dermot, because we've seen teams like Manchester United, obviously still commercially viable, but dropped off when it comes to performance on the field. But how sustainable is it for one team to constantly want to win everything?
- [16:21]
Dermot Corrigan
It doesn't make sense, really. That's Real Madrid. It's Barcelona as well. Like, they are just two completely different clubs from Manchester United or from Bayern Munich or Arsenal or psg. There's something. There's something special about them. There's something chaotic about them. There's something really attractive about them as well. Madrid are able to sign players like Mbappe on a free transfer, for instance, that, you know, it's difficult to see any other club, maybe, apart from Barcelona, getting that. Barcelona are able to get players to come in and play for them for lower wages than they would ask for if they were moving to PSG or to Saudi Arabia or to. To play in the Premier League. So it's part of the allure and the glamour, the history of the club, the heritage that they have, which means that even when they go through difficult times or they have difficulty, disastrous seasons, that they're able to bounce back so quickly. Like, look at Barcelona and their financial difficulties that they have. You know, we've reported a lot on the Athletic about the. The levers and the way that Juan Laporte, the Barcelona president, has dealt with the. The fact that they have basically no money, but they also need to win trophies. They've been able to do it quite well. You could criticize maybe some of the decisions that Laporta has made, the same as you can criticize some of the decisions that Florentino Perez has made. But in the end, they have continued to keep their cubs afloat and keep them winning trophies, and if not winning Champions Leagues, at least competing quite well at the top level. Barca, back to the semifinals of the Champions League last year, and a lot of that does come down to the president as well. You need to have a huge personality. You need to be a guy who has a huge amount of confidence in yourself, charisma, able to pull people along with you. Also, to be a good political operator, to be able to win the elections, you need to keep a handle on the media, you need to be able to deal with superstar players. You need to make it clear that you're the most important person at the club. Look at Barcelona to pull an example of Bartomeo, when he was the president, Messi was clearly the most important person at the club. It wasn't the club president, but now it's. Laporta is the biggest name at Barcelona, and Florentino Perez is the biggest name at Madrid. And, you know, Laporta has elections coming up, and Florentino, you know, can't go on forever either. So whoever does come in and take over the job, it's going to be huge for them. But in the meantime, the two guys are. Are doing a decent job in. In very difficult circumstances.
- [18:42]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah. Guillermo Demet makes a really interesting point, and he got me thinking, especially at the fact that Perez has been there for a long time. And I wonder how important those political connections are in terms of being able to get a group of people to back your vision, but also be able to connect with some of the greatest players in the world and bring them to the club.
- [19:03]
Guillermo Rai
Yeah, I mean, it's a matter of experience, probably of contacts. And I think it's not only about Florentino in this case. I guess that Jose angel, the general manager, has an important role as well, connecting to the agents, to the players, and running the operative. Because Florentino obviously is really busy always, not only with Real Madrid, but with his own company, which is mainly focused on building and infrastructure. So Jose angel is also running a lot of things inside the club, and probably because of that, we should mention him. But it's true that from now on, when we talk about Florentino's heir or Florentino's substitute, the future of Real Madrid, really, I think we will have to take into account if he's really capable or if she is really capable of handling all the pressure in terms of contracts, contract situations, possible potential moves, prestige inside the industry. Because it's also about how the rest of the clubs see Real Madrid and see their leaders. Right. It's also leveraged for the operation. So I think it's an interesting point of view, but not only focus on Florentino, but also Jose Angela and probably the head of scouting, Unique Calafatia.
- [20:29]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, Demet, he's one of the most powerful men in football. It goes without saying. We know all the conversations around the Super League, for instance, how has he managed to maintain that level of power?
- [20:43]
Dermot Corrigan
It's a very good question. He's a very skillful political operator through his career. He's an engineer by trade, but at one stage he wanted to be a politician. Florentino Perez, he ran for office in Spain in the 1980s for a small party after democracy had returned to Spain in the 1980s, didn't get elected, moved into business. But he's always been a really skillful political operator and he has the context. As Guille was saying, he knows everybody in Spain and across all the parties. He's close to people on the conservative parties, close to more people in the Socialist party as well. He's really good at being able to make deals. He's a guy who can, who can have a strategic view, you know, when he came into Real Madrid first, the club had huge depths. They also had the training ground, which was in a really great location within the financial district of the center. He was able to do a deal with the local council to sell that site to the local council. There's now four big skyscrapers. The biggest buildings in Madrid are on that site. They're called after the Galactico, Zidane, Figo, Beckham and Ronaldo. He bought the training ground out by the airport where it is now, which is also huge. Great piece of real estate. And now there's more developments going on around that which the club are going to benefit from as well. He's always a couple of steps ahead of the game for Martino Perez, which is why within Spain he's so highly regarded. The Super League is a low point on acv, I would say, and helps to explain how his reputation outside of Spain is maybe not as high as his reputation within Spain, because that go well at all. When it was launched back in 2021 and Perez still continues to fight it, they still believe that it's going to be possible to launch the Super League. He's a guy who likes power, who likes to be involved in making these type of deals, these type of decisions, is very good at them. And that's how he's been able to remain in charge of the club for so long.
- [22:38]
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- [23:54]
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- [25:48]
Athletic FC Podcast Announcer
You're listening to the Athletic FC Podcast with ayawakamilere.
- [25:54]
Ayo Akimolere
Well, look, Madrid have changed coaches from Ancelotti to Alonso to Arbelloa in just nine months without any obvious improvement. Obviously we saw what we did last night in, in the Champions League, but that still doesn't erase some of the cracks still within the club, does it?
- [26:08]
Dermot Corrigan
Yeah, for sure. It was brilliant for Madrid to, to win so handsomely against Monaco last night and for Vinicius to get the goal for Bellingham to score as well. For just to have that to move on from the awkwardness of the weekend against Levante was really good, but it doesn't mean that much has really changed. The same problems are in the squad that Ancelotti had to deal with. Still haven't replaced Toni Cruz or Luka Modric. A midfield playmaker is really needed. The defense is still, you know, so many injuries in defense. There's a lot of players there who just can't get back 100% fit, who are not regularly available to the coach. That's what Ancelotti struggled with. That was part of the reason, wasn't the full reason, but it's part of the reason that Alonso wasn't able to to get the team playing the way that he wanted to do it. And there's no sign of them signing anybody in January to give to Arbalault. So Arbolo is going to have to deal with those issues himself, try and come up with solutions to those issues. And we've very little to go off really, when trying to predict how it will go with Arbolo because he's, he's come up through the youth ranks at Madrid. He's had a lot of success coaching the underage teams. He did okay with the Castilla youth team in Spain's third tier over the first half of the season, but it's a huge step up to be the Real Madrid coach. And we're just going to have to see the game at the weekend against Villarreal is going to be pretty interesting because Villarre Real did really well in La Liga this season. They're on the fringes of the title race themselves. I don't think they go the whole way, but they're a good team. They're a really well organized team and they're well set up to counterattack and take advantage of those issues in the Madrid side. So I would say that just because they beat Monaco doesn't really mean that they're going to beat the Real. And we might have a better idea of, of how it's going to work out for Arbolo or what the signs are after that game.
- [27:51]
Ayo Akimolere
Yes, Guillermo, you know, there were also boos for manager Alvaro Albero. And you know, he said after the match against Levante, you know, I know where the whistles are coming from and where the campaigns are coming from. These are not people who do not like Florentino. These are people who do not like Real Madrid. They will not trick me. All we madristas are lucky to have a president who is the most important person, along with Santiago Bernabeu, in the club's history. Look, Arbelo is showing serious loyalty there. Is that what Real Madrid want? A coach, a manager that is part of the club's fabric politically? Because, you know, some might say perhaps a change of regime in terms of managerial frontier anyway, could be very useful to Real Madrid. Or do they just want someone that can answer to the president?
- [28:45]
Guillermo Rai
It's a tough question, really. I do think that the Arbeloa's position has already faced some criticism from Real Madrid legends like Jorge Valdano, who said a few days ago that he shouldn't divide the Madridistas, he shouldn't divide the Madrid fans. I think that there has been tension and tensions should dissipate and should be clarified. And I do think that when Arbeloa was asked about his position, about what he said about these two different sections of madrigistas, the non Madridistas and the madristas, because of the Florentino, which he didn't want to clarify, what he meant by that. There is something that we should bear in mind as contes, that is that in the past there were ultras at Real Madrid. They were called ultra, sure. And Florentino took the decision of leaving them out of the Bernabeu and probably Arbeloa in some way. He tried to focus the Florentinos, the missile chance, around this ultra fun section. But I think this is something really controversial. I don't have clarity on what he meant. He didn't want to clarify it either. And I think that the best thing for any Madrid coach, any Madrid coach who has proved really successful, like for example, Tinedine, Sidan or Carlo Ancelotti, is that they have really unite the Madrid fan base. It doesn't really matter if they are or if they seem connected to the board, because if they are winning, they are connected. I guess that when you are in a bad position or when you are in a tough moment, you try to relocate or reposition the narrative and to move away the pressure. And maybe it's what Arbeloa had In his mind when he was saying that. But I think that we have come from a period of pure success at Real with Ancelotti and with Zidane, and nobody was talking really about madristas and no Madridistas at the Bernabeu. They are all madristas and that's why they pay the tickets.
- [31:03]
Ayo Akimolere
And any case for Zidane coming back, then if you say someone that can unite the Marathri dies and also the board, I mean, come on, he's waiting. He still needs a job.
- [31:12]
Guillermo Rai
Not only the board or the Madrid fanbiz, but also the dressing room. Right? Really good choice. It's always like a good call. The thing is that as far as we know, as far as we reported that the Athletic he has in his mind, according to people close to him, the French national team bench. So let's see in the. In the following months, because it's true that last time that Real Madrid was in a situation similar to this one was in 2019. Julen Lopetteri was sacked, then the Castilla coach, then Solari move to the first team, but it didn't work it out as planned. And then Zidane stepped up in the last games of the season. So you cannot, I think, predict what is in Fidan's mind. I think he has shown that if he's needed, he will be there. Even that there is the French national team bench available maybe in a few months after the World cup in the States. Let's see. Because I don't want to say for sure, no, Zidane is no longer an option. I think that Zidane will be always linked to Real. Doesn't matter what happens.
- [32:24]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, Derma, what do you think to that question? Because I think being at the helm at Real Madrid, it feels like somewhat political, presidential kind of position, isn't it? I mean, Arboa is basically saying that anyone's not a fan of the club, he's basically speaking out. But the reality is, is. Is that what they want in charge, someone that's basically firmly in the position of the club and not someone that speaks out against the club.
- [32:48]
Dermot Corrigan
It's part of the super difficult role that is being Real Madrid coach. It's what makes. It's one of the reasons that it's one of the most difficult jobs in managerial jobs in world sport, arguably. And Zidane was really, really good at it. Zidane has been really close to Florentino Perez. He had a similar enough trajectory to Arboloa in that he came up through the youth ranks at the Castilla job as well, and moved up, but he never was seen as, you know, one of Florentino's men, whereas Arbelo is firmly seen as a key supporter of the president. And when Arbelo came out at the weekend and said that there were, you know, these people who are whistling the team or whistling Florentino, they're not Real Madrid fans. That went down really badly with a lot of people, young and mentioned Valdano there who felt he had to have a say on it, and a lot of just Madrid socios who I know and people who go to the stadium, who they feel that they are the owners of the club. It's not Florentino. Florentino is there to look after the club on behalf of them, but not to make the big decisions. And that's still a sticking point. That's there. And Arbolo is going to be tied to Florentino now, no matter what. The great thing about Sedan was that he was his own man. Even in the dressing room where he was close to the players, he would have huge respect for Cristiano Ronaldo or Ramos or the biggest names in the dressing room, and they also had huge respect for him as a former player. But Zidane was also happy to come out and criticize them in public. He would say the standards are not good enough. You know, we need to. We need to up things. We need to work harder. This is just not Real Madrid. You're not up to the standards. And I've been a bit surprised at Arbaloa over the last couple of press conferences on how close he's been to the players, how much he's praised them, how much he said that they are great. Considering the bad results recently, and considering that they've lost a lot of classicos recently, I don't think that's exactly what the Real Madrid fans wanted to hear. Maybe lighting a fire under some of them might be better off long term. So we're going to have to see maybe Arboloa. The plan is to be nice to them and then to gently move some of them aside or to gently make changes in the team, as maybe somebody like Ancelotti would do. But it's a different approach than Sedan's approach. And, yeah, I agree with you. Like, Zidane is always around Real Madrid, and if Sedan wasn't, as we're all pretty sure, holding out for the French job after the World cup, he would be the Real Madrid coach again. I don't think it's a case that the club looked and said, do we appoint Abloh or do we appoint Zinedine Zidane or do we look for somebody else? It was that they were in a tight spot. They had decided that Alonso couldn't really continue and Arbolo was. Was basically the only option that they had to step up and take over. So it's a lot of pressure on him and it's a huge job and we're going to have to see whether he's up to it.
- [35:27]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, Guillermo, we mentioned previously Florentino Perez and, you know, he's still the man in charge, but there was a time where he stepped away and came back into the job. Right. Could this happen again? I mean, because Real Madrid are in a very different position now. People keep talking about the changes in the managers, the changes of the players, but one person that still stays is the president.
- [35:45]
Guillermo Rai
He's almost 80 years old. So it's also normal that there are rumors about him leaving soon. There were reports about Florentino leaving in 2026, so this year. And what they both suggested to us at that moment is that they are wrong. Let's see. Because as you said, it's a difficult position. We are always talking about managers and it's interesting to follow what's next after Florentino. Right. For me and for the British reader or the British audience, I will compare it a little bit to the Sirales Ferguson after Sir Alex Ferguson. I feel that Manchester United have faced many problems because Cirales was really important within the club. And probably that's going to happen at Real as well. You realize that this is a point of inflection for Real. Like this is a historic moment for Real. Maybe it's not this year, but they are working towards the future of Real and the future post Florentino Perez.
- [36:53]
Dermot Corrigan
It's really difficult for Florentino Perez to imagine that anybody else could be the Real Madrid president, that anybody else could be able to take decisions over the future of the club, that anybody else has the personality to do it, that anybody else understands Real Madrid the way he understands Real Madrid. It's so important to him. And he's been such a huge figure in the club for so long. And he remembers, he goes back to the Santiago Bernabeu days. He used to go to the stadium as a 5, 6 year old kid, used to watch Di Stefano and Puskas and these guys winning European Cups, scoring great goals. And he's recreated that over the last couple of decades at Real Madrid with the Galacticos, with all the Champions. Leagues again. And it's difficult for him and for anybody else to, to go and do it a third time is going to be really difficult. And around what we're talking about, about the bringing in the investor into the club.
- [37:41]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, I was going to ask you about that.
- [37:43]
Dermot Corrigan
Florentino, he talks a lot about how it's more difficult all the time to compete against the wealth of the Premier League and against the state owned clubs. People like Paris Saint Germain, who can basically have unlimited money, they find ways around the rules to sign whoever they want. And Madrid are bound a little bit by their owner model. They can't. You know, Perez is a really rich guy, but he can't put his own money into the club and Socios can't put their own money into the club. The way of looking for an investor to come in, pretty sure from talking to people who have been involved in the deal, is that Florentino sees it as a way of protecting the club, as a way of when he is not there, whenever that is. And I think it's still going to be quite, quite a long way away. But when that moment comes that the club is able to keep going and to compete against your Manchester Uniteds or your Paris Saint Germains or your Bayern Munich's or Chelsea or whoever it is, coming up with a way to do that is being very difficult for them to offer an investor something that would be worth their while. If they're going to give a billion euros to come into Real Madrid, what do they get for that? And then on the other side, smoothing it over with the owners, with the members. There's a lot of, as GIA says there maybe Madrid might be converted into a limited company, but then what happens? How do you do that practically? How does it work? If you have a share, can you sell your share? What happens if the club makes a profit? Do you get dividends on that? All those types of things. If you can give money to the investor as a dividend, why don't you give money to the shareholders? All this type of stuff is super difficult to work out. And that's why there's so many doubts around the project. That's why there's so much tension around it. And it's. Yeah, as always, it's super interesting to see and it's really difficult to predict how it's going to work out.
- [39:20]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, Giramberg, Real Madrid reported, and we've reported it as well, you know, 1 billion euros in terms of revenues this last year, which is insane. Which shows just commercially just how viable they are. But you know, you also think the stadium still needs to be paid off. You know, there's a lot of money there. It's top class in terms of infrastructure. Let's say this investor does come in. Does that threaten the position of Florentino Perez or is that to reinforce the future of Real Madrid? And also what do the members have to say about this?
- [39:49]
Guillermo Rai
Well, first of all, the members have to vote for this crucial decision. First of all, what is expected is that there will be, as we reported, an extraordinary assembly. We don't have a date yet, but what we have heard is that it will be ideal that it could be held this semester in 2026. And if the assembly approves the vote, then all the members could vote for the change of ownership. That's the first thing we should bear in mind. I do think that it is also depending on what we also hear is that it's also depending on the results, on the spotting results. I don't expect this vote to take place if there is a bad run of of results from Marvelloa's team. But if this boat goes through, what they are considering basically is that the minority investor, let's say an investor which buys or who buys 5%, 10% of the club, then this investor will have the chance to have a representative within the board. There won't be a CEO representing the minority investor. What they are considering is not definitive, is that there is a CEO, probably that will be the Florentino substitute from an operational point of view, and there will be a minority representative in the board. That will be the first time in Real Madrid history that a company is linked to real and is part of the Real Madrid ownership. And the CEO will be representing the members and the other percentage of the club will be represented by the independent member. It's something I think that right now, the Real Madrid model, the legal status of Real Madrid is a non profit company and it doesn't really make sense because as you said, the revenues are up to 1 billion euro, they have profits and the legal status doesn't reflect what is the club right now. Right. That's why they are also considering changing the ownership model and they are valuating the club in 10 billion euros, more or less. What they say is that the club could be up to 10 billion euros value. Right. Of value. So it's a huge business and they know that. And they know that it's also important for the future of the club that if Florentino is not there, another company could demand for a good managerial Decisions, good business decisions and it will help the future managing of the club after Florentino.
- [42:39]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, Derma, let's go back to the football before I let you guys go. Villarreal next in La Liga. We've also talked about them playing Benfica after that. I mean, there are still gaping holes in the. In this squad and we've spoken about the midfield situation ath, and how much they need a creative midfielder in many respect. Look, Champions League heritage is one thing, but league positioning, Villareala just behind them. Is this a real test now of how Arbeloa can take this team forward?
- [43:07]
Dermot Corrigan
Yeah, I think it's a huge game for, for Arboloa and for the rest of Madrid season at Vira at the weekend. If they can win and put in a really good performance, it sets them up really well. It'll move on from the Alonso era. It will make Alonso look great, I guess, in retrospect, but it will set them up really well. If they lose, especially if they don't play well and all the old problems emerge again, then it's going to be difficult for them. We were talking about Zidane as well. When Zidane came in, it was a different squad that he was taking over. It was really deep. I remember, you know, back in 2015, 2016, the Madrid bench would be people like James Rodriguez, Alvaro Morata, Kovacic, Rafael Varane. Pepe was either Varane or Pepe playing alongside Ramos. There were really high quality substitutes that would have walked into most other teams around the league or definitely in La Liga, definitely around the Champions League as well. Whereas now they've made a lot of bets on younger players and guys like Guler and Mastantuono could turn out to be really top stars for the club in the future. But it's asking a lot for them at the moment to come in and be the main men in the team. Domestically, Madrid are still in the La Liga title race. Barca drop points at the weekend. Barca have their own issues in their squad, so Barca are favourites, but Madrid, especially if they win at viral at the weekend, are likely to push them all the way. But in the Champions League, I think they'll. They'll probably win at Benfica next week. They'll probably go through in the top eight. They'll have a bit more time to prepare for the knockout rounds. But when the really big games come around, if they get, you know, Arsenal knocked them out quite easily last season and I don't think Madrid are much better than they were last season. And Arsenal are probably a good bit better than they were. So Bayern Munich, the top Premier League teams, Paris Saint Germain are still quite a few steps ahead of Madrid, I would say, just looking at their squads, at the depth of the squad and at the quality within the squad. So it's a huge, huge job for Abel.
- [44:59]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, fantastic, gentlemen, I really appreciate your time as always. Guillermo Derma, thanks for joining us. Also, thank you guys for joining us too. We'll catch you soon.
- [45:10]
Athletic FC Podcast Announcer
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- [45:41]
Dermot Corrigan
Foreign.
- [45:45]
Ayo Akimolere
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Dermot Corrigan
Because we're still doing a lot of stuff wrong.
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Dermot Corrigan
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Dermot Corrigan
And for the first time ever, we're going to have full video episodes on YouTube. Because as long as there are things to get wrong, we're going to be right here to help you do them better. Love y'.
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Ayo Akimolere
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