Perez counts Real cost as Valencia rule

REAL MADRID president Florentino Perez is an expert businessman, but he still has a lot to learn about football.

With David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo in their ranks, Real are the most glamorous team in the world, but clearly second best in Spain.

With a host of hard-working, high-quality professionals and a meticulous coach who puts the interests of his team ahead of that of any individual, Valencia have swept Real aside in the title run-in.

Valencia are league champions and in the UEFA Cup final. Real are a distant second in the league and looking more than a little foolish.

Coach Carlos Queiroz is likely to be the scapegoat for this disappointing season but much of the blame has to be laid at the door of Perez and his right-hand man Jorge Valdano. It was their decision to discard Queiroz's highly successful predecessor Vicente del Bosque at the end of last season, claiming he was not modern enough in his coaching methods.

They chose to replace the club servant who had steered Real to two European Cups and two league titles with the media-friendly former Manchester United assistant.

Queiroz was quick to warn that his squad was dangerously unbalanced and the club should look to strengthen its defence.

His advice was ignored and instead he found himself without one of the lynchpins of the club's recent success, defensive midfielder Claude Makelele, who was allowed to join Chelsea after he asked for a pay rise.

Real's only recruit was Beckham who started the season well enough in the centre of midfield and proved there was a fine footballer behind the marketing phenomenon.

However, his form began to wane as the season progressed, prompting fellow midfielder Ivan Helguera to say: "Beckham works very hard and is clearly a good player, but he's not Makelele and can't do the same job for the team that he did."

Helguera was then fined for questioning the wisdom of letting players like Makelele and defenders Aitor Karanka and Ivan Campo leave.

Instead of relying on less-heralded players Perez made much of his policy of "Zidanes and Pavones" signing the world's biggest stars and filling the rest of the squad with former youth team players like centre-back Francisco Pavon.

This season has proved that many of the youngsters are not ready to carry the team while the "galacticos", all of whom are nearing or over 30, cannot cope with the relentless cycle of domestic, European and international matches.

Zidane, Beckham, Raul and Roberto Carlos have looked jaded in the run-in, a situation many players privately blame on an exhausting pre-season marketing tour of the Far East.

The hardest thing for many Real fans to swallow has been watching players the club decided to offload wreak havoc on their old team.

Former striker Fernando Morientes, who sat on the sidelines last season and was shipped out on loan to Monaco in August, was the architect of the French side's victory over Real in the Champions League quarter-finals.

One of the most promising former members of the youth team, Valdo, has had an outstanding season at Osasuna and scored the opener in their 3-0 rout of Real at the Bernabeu.

African Player of the Year, Samuel Eto'o, was sold to Mallorca after barely being given a chance to make his mark at Real. He scored two brilliant individual goals as he led the islanders to their 3-2 victory at the weekend.

Real's apparent answer to the failings of this season is to reach for the cheque book again and look for more high-profile reinforcements, with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Francesco Totti being touted as possible new recruits.

Many Real fans would be happier if the club looked to strengthen the squad with less glamorous figures at the back.