Galáctico

"Galáctico" (or "superstar") is a term used to describe a world-famous football player who has been signed by Spanish club Real Madrid. It is mostly associated with the tenure of Florentino Pérez's presidency, where he purchased at least one "galáctico" in the summer of every year. The "Galácticos" nickname, originally used by the media as means of emphasising the greatness of the team, became instead a term used to mock it, and has fallen into disuse.

Los Galácticos

They included:
* Luís Figo (£38.7m from FC Barcelona) - joined in 2000
* Zinedine Zidane (£44m from Juventus) - joined in 2001
* Ronaldo (£26m from Inter Milan) - joined in 2002
* David Beckham (£25m from Manchester United) - joined in 2003
* Michael Owen (£8m plus Antonio Núñez from Liverpool F.C.) - joined in 2004

Other players eventually considered galactics:
* Roberto Carlos da Silva
* Iker Casillas
* Raul González (Called, "The Angel")

Pérez becomes President

Though Real Madrid had already won two European Cups (1998, 2000) under the presidency of Lorenzo Sanz, Sanz lost his re-election bid to Florentino Pérez. Pérez had won, partly by promising to sign Luís Figo from rivals F.C. Barcelona.

Pérez made a habit of buying at least one "galáctico" each summer during the transfer season. The "Galáctico" policy was initially called "Zidanes y Pavones". The signing of Figo set a record transfer fee. It was broken a year later by the purchase of Zidane from Juventus F.C. and that record still stands as of 2008. The idea was to sign one major superstar per year and promoted youth players from within. The name "Zidanes y Pavones" came from Zidane and Francisco Pavón, a youth product from Real Madrid.

uccess

It initially helped to cement Real's status as one of the world's most prestigious clubs. It worked to great effect as Real won the La Liga twice and its record ninth European Cup. Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo both were on the European Cup winning team. Ronaldo won the Pichichi Trophy in his first season with the club.

2003-2006

However, the policy only met with limited success on the pitch after Real Madrid won their last La Liga title for the 2002-03 season and Florentino Pérez made a few critical mistakes that offseason. Real Madrid would failto win any trophy for next three seasons. This is possibly because many of the previous clubs 'Galacticos' had played for had built their squads around the player, and had a more proper team balance of attack and defense. All of the 'galaticos' were attacking players, with generally limited defensive roles and abilities.

Defensive Talent

In particular, a lack of interest in defensive talent harmed the team, as potential transfers were overlooked because Pérez did not want to pay large wages to defensive players. After winning the 2002-2003 La Liga title, Real Madrid signed David Beckham from Manchester United, Claude Makélélé departed the team shortly afterward when the club refused to raise his relatively low salary - despite being widely considered as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world and a key to the team. Negotiations to sign Patrick Vieira from Arsenal F.C. in 2004 failed because for similar reasons. Instead, Real Madrid used David Beckham, an offensive player, as their defensive midfielder for two seasons without getting replacement for Makélélé. The defensive players signed by Perez during this period, namely Walter Samuel, Thomas Gravesen, Cicinho, Carlos Diogo and Pablo García all flopped while playing for the club. Even, Sergio Ramos who joined Real Madrid for €27 million in the summer of 2005 from Sevilla failed to shine until Florentino Pérez's departure in 2006. Francisco Pavón, the poster boy for Zidanes y Pavones policy, never lived up to expectation.

Del Bosque's sacking

Another turning point was the surprise firing of coach Vicente Del Bosque, shortly after Real's 29th league championship in the 2002-2003 season. It was widely believed that there was a political split, with Del Bosque and his players (Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman and Claude Makélélé) on one side, and Perez on the other. Three of the aforementioned players had backed a significant wage raise for Makélélé and all of them left the club in 2003 in Perez's shakeup bid to regain control.

More importantly, Del Bosque was able to balance the many different modern player egos in the star studded team, considering that several Galacticos were competing for the same position and had their playing time reduced. Consequently, without such a talented coach, the superstar players placed together failed to form a cohesive footballing unit - having a large number of very talented, renowned individual footballers did not effectively translate into a great footballing team.

A week after the arrival of Manchester United player David Beckham, Carlos Queiroz who was an assistant manager at Manchester United, replaced the exiting Vicente Del Bosque. He too was forced to pick the star players, therefore having no input into tactical decisions. he was sacked in May 2004. Real Madrid has since suffered from high turnover in non-playing staff, with four managers and four directors of football in the four years following Del Bosque's sacking in 2003.

The signing of David Beckham in 2003 essentially forced Steve McManaman out, as both were competing for the winger position. As their position on the starting lineup was uncertain, this led to the departure of Luís Figo and Michael Owen after the 2004-2005 season; Owen had played less than a full season with Real Madrid before leaving.

Policy

The 'galacticos' policy meant that players were picked not according to form, but rather because of their marketing potential off the pitch. This ultimately led to what Steve McManaman later described in his autobiography as the "Disneyfication of Real Madrid".

Several signings and player management decisions were controversial. David Beckham, a natural right winger, joined the club in 2003 partly due to Beckham's huge popularity in Asia when Real Madrid already owned another right winger, Luis Figo. One director was, reportedly, quoted saying that Beckham was signed for his good looks and Ronaldinho who joined FC Barcelona the same summer was too "ugly" to play for Real Madrid. Shortly after Beckham joined the club, the team began a summer tour in Asia and the United States cashing on Beckham's worldwide appeal. Some compared the tour with the first visit of the Beatles to the US in 1964. Ronaldinho would lead the resurgence of FC Barcelona while Real Madrid failed to win any trophy for three straight seasons under Beckham.

Though Real Madrid owned 50% of Samuel Eto'o's contract with RCD Mallorca since 1998 and had first preference over his signing if he chose to leave RCD Mallorca, Florentino Pérez sold their rights to Eto'o in 2004, arguing that Madrid already had the best two strikers in the league (Ronaldo and Raúl) and that there was no place for another non-European Union player. Eto'oo himself also ruled out a move back to Real Madrid thinking that he being a forward would be a surplus at Real Madrid. Yet, Real Madrid signed another forward, Michael Owen the same summer. Eto'o would help F.C. Barcelona to the 2004-05 and 2005-06 La Liga titles and the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League. Meanwhile, Michael Owen, the alternative signing to Eto'o, left after one season after failing to take the starting positions from Ronaldo and Raúl.

Also, it was reported that Madrid had signed Antonio Cassano early 2006 so they could cash in to his reputation in his native Italy, though he was unable to gain a regular place on the first team. In May 2006, Real Madrid fined Cassano and Ronaldo for every gram they remained overweight, while Raúl has been under heavy criticism because of his poor performances in the last two years, seeing him relegated at times to the bench.
Jonathan Woodgate was signed for £13.4 million in August 2004 but he did not make his first appearance for the Madrid until September 2005 due to injuries. Only in February 2006 did he emerge as one of the squad's best defenders but it was cut short due to back surgery.

End of Era

Nonetheless, "Los Galácticos" policy resulted in increased financial success based on the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia. Its economic model led it to finally overtake perennial leader Manchester United as the world's richest club by revenue in 2005-2006.

However, the decline in the team's on-field performance had seemingly hit a nadir in the 2005-2006 season, exiting in the UEFA Champions League to Arsenal F.C. in the round of 16 without scoring a goal in either leg. Arsenal's management is often considered the opposite of "Los Galácticos", with Arsène Wenger preferring to sign young unknowns to develop into world-class players. Florentino Pérez resigned on February 27, 2006, leaving to inevitable speculation of the end of the "galáctico" era at Real Madrid.

The end of an era was compounded when David Beckham left to join MLS side LA Galaxy. He was the last of the big four to move on. Luis Figo had joined Inter Milan two seasons prior while Zidane retired after the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Ronaldo had moved to AC Milan half a season before Beckham's departure.

Related Websites:

[http://www.madridgalacticos.com/the-galacticos-era/ Galacticos Era] : The author gives a brief overview of the Galacticos Era