Sunday, May 17, 2009

Perez makes presidential promise

Perez makes presidential promise
Florentino Perez has promised a 'spectacular project' should he be elected as Real Madrid president.

Perez officially confirmed his desire to re-run for a post he held between 2000 and 2006 on Thursday.

During his first spell at the helm he helped Real lift two Primera Liga titles and conquer Europe in the UEFA Champions League.

He was also responsible for the famous 'Galaticos' transfer policy which saw the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham sign for Los Blancos.

Perez has hinted that his plans for the future revolve around similar principles, but has so far refrained from revealing the names of those he would wish to bring to Santiago Bernabeu upon his return to office.

"We are working towards and we will work to create a spectacular project, and that is to make Real Madrid the best club in the world once more," said Perez, who is considered the favourite to win the election.

"We want to clean the image of the club and become leaders in Europe.

"A club like Real Madrid needs to have several of the best players in the world and even though I can't discuss names today, we have a spectacular project on the sporting side."

Manchester United's World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo and AC Milan's Brazilian superstar Kaka are just two of the names strongly linked with Real in recent times.

Motivation

Perez is known to be an admirer of both, but has refused to comment on speculation suggesting he is lining up big-money moves for either player.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world," he said.

He went on to add on the continued speculation regarding Kaka: "I'm an intimate friend of (Milan vice-president) Adriano Galliani and when we meet up we always have a good chat - and we also talk about football."

Should Perez win the election, his first task will be to overhaul the domestic dominance currently enjoyed by arch rivals Barcelona.

The Catalan giants are on course to land an historic Treble this season and Perez admits Pep Guardiola's side set the standard which Real must strive to achieve.

"Barcelona are having a magnificent season, but that is motivation for me because I want to make Madrid great again," he said.

"I want us to be the leader in Europe, to compete with teams like Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea.

"We have seen that Barcelona and Manchester United have played the best football in Europe this year - and that's the level we have to get to."




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