Perez looks to strengthen Real but no room for ‘second best’

REAL MADRID president Florentino Perez has no desire to sign “the second best player in the world” – which in his opinion is Barcelona’s Lionel Messi – or Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney this summer.

Perez returned to the Bernabeu for a second spell last summer but Madrid ended the season empty-handed, despite an outlay of €250m.

Having signed the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka prior to the 2009/10 campaign, Madrid have been linked with a host of top names again this year. Perez famously signed Barcelona’s Luis Figo in 2000 in a highly-controversial move in his first stint as president, but says there will be no repeat this time with Messi.

“Messi is the second best player in the world, after Cristiano, and it wouldn’t be good to have them in the same team,” he said. “This way, there is more competition,” he added, implying Madrid would be by far the greater force with both players in his side.

New coach Jose Mourinho has apparently identified four new players to build a team to challenge domestically and in Europe, but Perez claims only two or three will arrive this summer. Inter Milan full-back Maicon, who has already expressed his desire to link up again with Mourinho in Madrid, could be one of them.

However, Perez has ruled out a summer swoop for Rooney. “In Rooney’s position we already have very good players,” he said.