Mending the white compass: How Real Madrid changed direction and became the best

Francisco Pavon. A name that is famous. Ironically, for not being very famous. A player touted for the very top of the footballing world, he became eligible for unemployment benefits at the age of 33. After two years without a professional contract, he retired from the game in 2013.

He represents a time in modern football when the tendencies of the free market were beginning to appear. It was a time when the best players cost the most money. That is when Florentino Perez began his term as the president of Real Madrid and changed the game. He was a man who was very much ahead of his time. He saw the possibility of football. Not the sporting possibility, mind you. But the commercial one. And he wanted Real to be the kings of the game. Maybe not on the pitch. But certainly off it.

In the year 2002, Real Madrid had five of the previous six winners of the Ballon d'Or. That naturally meant that Real were a top-heavy machine. Perez’s policy was so telling that in the entire squad, Francisco Pavon, who was 23 years old at that time, was the only natural centre back. Ivan Helguera alternated between the midfield and defence. Raul Bravo was mainly a left back but had to play in the centre because Real had probably the greatest left-back in the history of football, Roberto Carlos. Oscar Minambres was a midfielder who had to play in the defence. Michel Salgado was a right back. This is the situation that in some circles would begin talks of ‘footballing suicide’.

And it indeed was. Iker Casillas held together a back-line that was simply not good enough. And he must be congratulated for that. But that is a topic for another day. Real's performances dipped. Claude Makelele was forced out to accommodate David Beckham. Fernando Hierro was furious that Makelele was let go and he left as well. In the next four years, Real Madrid won absolutely nothing.

They won the league in the 2006-07 season under new president Ramon Calderon. That was the season when they rebuilt the squad under Fabio Capello. Out of the eight signings they made that summer, 5 were defensive. That was a significant departure from the days of old. When you realise that they had bought only 5 defensive players in the whole of the previous 5 seasons, you can understand what was actually going on. Often, during the period from 2000-2006, Real Madrid ended the transfer window with only one signing. Who was always a Galactico? Perez had cultivated a sense as if there only needed to be a commercial aspect to the game. He had completely ignored the sporting side of things.

During his tenure as the president of Real Madrid from 2006 to 2009, Ramon Calderon bought 11 defensive players. Contrasting that with the five that Perez had bought in his first term of six years, you can see the difference. But they still couldn't win trophies during that period. I think it was because of the fact that the core had been so weak, to begin with, that it was difficult to bring about an upheaval in such a short period of time. Before he could do more, however, Ramon Calderon had to resign amid accusations of vote rigging during the passing of the annual budget.

Perez was back for another shot at the job. But, as they say, old habits die hard. He repeated his old tactics and bought 10 players that summer. That included two of the last three winners of the Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka. History repeated itself and Real went trophyless the following season. They could win only the Copa del Rey the next season owing to a last-gasp Cristiano Ronaldo header.

Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Real Madrid

During the period after that till 2015, Florentino still couldn't bring himself to look at things differently. In that period, they still made big signings and incurred losses. Just to elaborate on that point, they had a net spend of €268.15. During that time, they won only three major trophies. Many people would frown deeply at such a low return from such a heavy investment. But then came Zinedine Zidane.

Zinedine Zidane. The man who came to Madrid as a legend and left as a god. If there was anyone who could have changed Perez's mind, it was him. Not only because he was who he was but also because he was someone who Perez saw as his very own Pep Guardiola. Perez wanted Zidane to succeed so badly that he was willing to do just about anything to give him what he wanted. And that is where everything changed. Till now, Perez had not encountered anyone who could question his decisions. Now, Zidane could not only question the decisions but also make decisions on his own. Maybe that became the turning point for Perez. He saw that he did not have to do too much. In fact, he had to do very little.

Fast forward to 2018, Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world again. They have won the last three Champions League titles. They won the league in 2016-17. They are back where they belong. Perez has finally achieved his objectives. But he did not shake the entire tree, cut it down and plant a new one. He just let the tree grow. And that is where Real Madrid beat their rivals. Not on the pitch in Lisbon or Kiev.

Perez realised that Real could not sustain the relentless outlay on expensive players in the long run. He started to buy prospects rather than products. According to transfermarkt.com, in all of the last three summer transfer windows, Real Madrid have made profits. That, while buying players such as Theo Hernandez, Alvaro Morata, Martin Odegaard and the recent phenomenon Vinicius is a remarkable feat.

When you put it against the fact that Real made losses in all of the first 15 years of the century while not winning much is pretty astonishing. That is a testament to the fact that they reversed the previous policy. Instead of buying star players and selling young ones, they sold the big players and bought young ones. The summer of 2013 perfectly represents that. Ozil and Higuain had established themselves at the top of the game but were not in the club’s plans. So, they were sold for big money. In came Isco, Asier Illaramendi and Dani Carvajal.

In recent years, Real have looked to build rather than buy. They bought Marco Asensio for a paltry sum in 2015. They recalled Lucas Vazquez back from his loan at Espanyol. Even in the defence, they bought young players rather than buying superstars. Jesus Vallejo, Theo Hernandez, Alvaro Odriozola are all players for the time to come.

It must be noted that both Nacho Fernandez and Francisco Pavon come from the same background. They were both youngsters who were expected to do very well in their careers. Nacho is a four-time Champions League winner while Pavon couldn't succeed in a trial with West Ham. This condition can only be attributed to the fact that they played in different eras. Had Nacho been there during the galacticos, he probably would have had to play in the second division. Like Pavon.

Recently, there was a graphic doing the rounds on Twitter. Bein had broadcasted it earlier. It showed the net spend among Europe's elite football clubs since 2014. At the top of the pile were the usual suspects Manchester City, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain. All of them had negative figures. Man City had a net spend of -€644m, United had a net spend of -€566m and PSG had a net spend of -€434m. Real Madrid? A positive net spend of €55.6m. A figure that ranks them 223rd in the list of teams according to net spend in Europe.

In Zinedine Zidane, Perez found the manager he had been looking for. Astonishingly successful but impressively calm, Zidane was the perfect candidate to steady the rocking ship. Now that Zidane has left, Perez can focus on implementing a system of planned growth aiding on-field success, not inhibiting it. The new manager Julen Lopetegui is very well acquainted with the players like Nacho, Isco, Asensio and Carvajal having worked with them in the past. He is a man who will bring the stability that the galacticos lacked in the past. And probably offer the glory that they couldn’t.

The era of the galacticos was a curse in many ways. Real Madrid couldn't win many trophies. They were brilliantly talented but too good to be a good team. On the 10th of July, Real Madrid announced that the greatest galactico of them all had left the club. Maybe, the curse of the galacticos has gone as well.