But first things first. A football club has always been an expensive undertaking. Especially if the management strived for progress and reaching a new, higher-quality level, and did not limit itself to local achievements.
But only for a while. The cause of it all, most likely, was the internationalization that began in football in the early 20th century. International matches, the number of which grew from year to year, allowed coaches and other team officials to spot interesting players in the ranks of their opponents. Soon they were made a lucrative offer, which it was not always possible to refuse: they were promised financial terms so generous that it was hard to resist. Competition, without which, as we know, progress is impossible, forced football bosses not to skimp on promises, offering the footballers they were interested in mountains of gold.
Years passed. The transfer records of the first half of the last century, laughable by today's standards, gave way to more substantial contracts in material terms. And soon after the Second World War, the process gained momentum rather quickly.
In 1961, the threshold of 100,000 English pounds was crossed, 15 years later - 1 million. In 1982, the famous Argentine Diego Maradona was sold to Barcelona for 3 million pounds, two years later resold to Napoli for 5 million, and three years later a new record was set by the "Flying Dutchman" Ruud Gullit. And three years after that - the celebrated "Ponytail" Roberto Baggio, who still plays in the Italian championship for Brescia.
Clubs reached a qualitatively new level of expenditure on acquiring footballers in the early 1990s, when in 1992 alone the record sum for a player purchase was surpassed three times! The football world became a bit quiet after that. The storm broke later.
Starting in 1996 and every year up to 2001, a new record of expenditure was set on the transfer market. But this is not the only thing that attracts attention. The 15 million pounds paid for the Englishman Alan Shearer in 1996 was considered a very serious sum. And over the next five years, the 15-million mark was exceeded 33 times! Moreover, the amount of the record transfer, in which the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, Turin's Juventus and Madrid's Real were involved, was three times Shearer's figure. Meanwhile, astronomical sums were written into the contracts of the biggest stars, which those wishing to acquire such a player would have to pay.
Truly, the world has gone mad! The voices of those dissatisfied with the "arms race" grew very loud. But who will listen to them if the president of the club you adore promises to buy a megastar every year? Moreover, he fulfills his obligations, and the club's infrastructure flourishes.
That is what the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, did, having assumed his post when the Royal Club, nine (!) times winner of the Champions Cup, was on the brink of financial collapse. Perez quickly figured out what was what: he bought something, sold something, but found the funds (37 million pounds) to purchase the Portuguese star Luis Figo.
We will not talk about the sporting side of the matter; we will only note that the arrival of such a strong footballer made Real an even more powerful fighting unit. Let's talk instead about the financial side. After all, no one, even the most talented player, can recoup such expenses with a single game on the pitch. Especially considering that he also has to be paid a considerable salary. Monthly.
However, the arrival of Figo prompted Madrid fans to visit the stadium more often, where one of the best footballers on the planet displays his skill, to the shop for cool T-shirts, and to buy merchandise with Luis's name and number on the back. It also increased the number of Real fans worldwide. Such an investment probably brought considerable profit. Moreover, not a momentary one, but one programmed for long-term dividends.
Now imagine that the next year Perez (as he promised) bought another "star boy" - the aforementioned Zidane. A year later - a new star - Brazilian forward Ronaldo, and another year later - English midfielder David Beckham, who in popularity in England, it seems, has long outdone everyone.
Not a bad quartet for extracting funds into the club's coffers, right? If you haven't seen the incredible hype that accompanies Real's tour of Southeast Asia, you've missed a lot. Fans sat in line for tickets for days on end, and speculators inflated ticket prices to $700 apiece. And Real didn't go on the trip for nothing - it was owed a tidy sum for it!
But Real is rather the exception to the general rule. And this rule says that endless price escalation cannot exist in nature. Today's society is no longer able to continue the chase for records.
How long the pause will last is unknown. But for the second year in a row, the European transfer market has been oversaturated with free transfers, player exchanges, and loans for symbolic sums, or even with additional payments for a player's departure. The point is that, having gathered into their ranks footballers from the category of minor or potential stars and having promised them mountains of gold, some clubs now do not know what to do with them. The purchases were made with the aim of a subsequent more profitable resale. But no one wants to buy anyone now. Everyone works on the principle: either I'll take nothing, or I'll take it, but for free.
And salaries have to be paid regularly. It is not surprising that club presidents and sporting directors offered footballers a 30-50 percent pay cut. Some agreed, understanding the difficulty of the situation, while others threatened to go to court. Such players had to be "sold" to other teams - with the clubs themselves paying extra, just to get rid of the excess burden.
And over two years, the 15 million pound mark was surpassed only seven times. Twice of those were by Madrid's Real, which is clearly following its chosen course. In 2003, apart from Madrid's purchase of Beckham, there were only two such grandiose deals. One was pulled off by Chelsea's new owner Roman Abramovich, who bought Irishman Duff from Blackburn. The other by Barcelona's new president Joan Laporta, who snatched Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho from under the nose of Manchester United. There is little surprising in the activity of the Londoners and Catalans. Abramovich, if he could, would have moved half of Real's squad and a number of other stars to Chelsea. But no one allows him to do that. And Laporta, who had made a fool of himself with the promise to bring Beckham to Barcelona, simply had to buy someone serious in the football world. Otherwise he would not have been understood. Even despite the general financial crisis of football clubs.