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.