With the election of Florentino Perez as President of Real Madrid, and his first big target Kaka all but assured to be in the Real Madrid white by next season, it appears that he has ushered in Galactico Era 2.0.  So far Real Madrid has been linked with from the top of my head, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Silva, Frank Ribery, Antonio Valencia, and David Villa.  With all these names being thrown around, it could make what the Yankees did in the last offseason seem like child's play in comparison.  So does this spell the potential for success for Madrid, or will it end like the last Galactico Era?

First I think we need to analyze whether we can consider the Galactico era a success or failure.  His first two signings were Luis Figo, and Zinadine Zidane, two of the world's best, who joined an already well balanced team.  With the addition of those two players Real Madrid won the league twice and the Champions League for the ninth time.  So based on those feats you could consider his time as president a success.

However it all seemed to go wrong in 2003, when Perez seemingly thinking he knew more about the game that he actually did, let Makelele go, and uttered his famous line, I have gotten rid of a player who can barely pass five yards, and gotten a player who can pass 35 yards, in regards to acquiring Beckham.  This marked his subsequent downfall, because from than on he signed, Julio Baptista, Ronaldo, Michael Owen, Cassano, and Robinho, while letting go such important role players as Steve McManaman, Fernando Morientes, and Fernando Heirro.

However from this point on you could say while Real Madrid wasn't as successful on the field, they were off the field, mainly with the signing of David Beckham.  With his signing Real Madrid was cemented as a global brand, and there were even rumors that Beckham's transfer fee had been paid for by shirt sales alone in the first few weeks.

So in three paragraphs you have a very quick summary of Florentino Perez's tenure as president, which from both the amount of trophies, and type of trophies he won, as well as from a business standpoint, was a success but just barely, it also seemed to set back Real Madrid, from which they still haven't totally recovered.

What he did was completely ignore the youth system, a system that put out such great players as Casillas, and Raul.  You compare that with Barcelona's current team, you have Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquete, Puyol, and Krkic, who were all key performers in this year's treble success.  In addition he turned the head coaching position into a revolving door, where even if you were successful, it wasn't good enough, rarely allowing managers to put their stamp on the team.  What this has created is a team who signs big players, but really can't compete consistently for the league, or for that matter what they really want the Champions League.  So lets play what if game, we are going to look at the rumored signings including Kaka, and the potential impact of the team, and who they have in place right now.

Real Madrid is a club that prides itself on playing beautiful creative football, which is why they were unhappy with the way Capello ran the team.  With Fabio Capello in charge Catanaccio was the name of the game, and thus the team was first focused on defense, and making sure the other team did not score, and then building an attack.

With Capello gone, attacking is again at the forefront, so let's look at who they have right now, and who they might bring in for the forward role.  Currently the Real Madrid forward line consists of Raul, Saviola, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Higuain and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.  First off Saviola is a non factor, and I will be shocked if he is on the team next year, second Ruud was injured most of the year, and he is on the wrong side of 30, and while he is a very effective striker, I don't see Madrid keeping him as he doesn't fit their playing style, and he has also been rumored to be moving to Fulham of all places!  Raul is a legend, and I believe they will always find a place for him, whether it be a starter, or coming off the bench, but again, he is 31, and time is not on his side.

That leaves two strikers I am personally not 100% sold on.  Huntelaar, came in January, and scored 8 goals in a respectable 20 appearances, in which 13 of those he started, he is not going anywhere.  Higuain, is a player he seemed to come into his own, this season, scoring 22 goals in 34 games, not bad at all.  But there is something about him that I just don't like, but regardless of what I think, he will be around next year.

So based on that analysis Madrid has two young strikers, with a third past his prime, they need, and they will sign another striker this offseason, and most likely that player will be David Villa.  Some of the teams vying for Villa's services this summer will be Chelsea, and Manchester City.  I believe Villa will go to Real Madrid because they are the only club in Spain who one need his services, and two more importantly can afford his services.  I also feel based on his loyalty to Valencia, that he is more interested in playing in Spain.  A player that hasn't been linked to Madrid, but could possibly move there is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he has been linked with Barcelona in a swap with Eto, but he probably wouldn't mind going to Madrid, and to be honest I think he would be a better fit there anyways.

Now on to the midfield, this should probably be its own blog piece!  For the midfield I am going to focus on the players more involved with the attack, rather than players who play a defensive midfield role.  Currently the center of the Madrid midfield, has Guti, Sneijder, Gago, and Van Der Vaart.  Guti is an icon, and will not be going anywhere, while Van Der Vaart never cemented his place at Madrid, and was only purchased because they couldn't get Cristiano Ronaldo.  Sneijder is a great player, but is injury prone, and sounds as if he is going to be shopped around to see if there is interest, which there will be.  And Gago, like Higuain, I have never been sold on, maybe because they joined the team at the same time, and are both Argentinean, I put them in the same category, he did lead the team with assists, but for whatever reason, maybe because he just isn't flashy enough, I am not a big fan, but he will also not be going anywhere in the summer.

On the flanks many of the players I just named can play there, but really they seem to only have one out and out winger, which is Arjen Robben.  This I believe is one of the problems with Madrid, and something they need to address.  Robinho was the in my opinion the difference between Madrid winning two league titles, and not winning anything, his creativeness, which usually started on one of the flanks, was something I felt Madrid lacked this year.  Robben is an awesome player, and creates many chances on the wings, but the problem is, he is always injured, and so when he is out, Madrid is missing that extra bit.  I just looked it up and he actually started 25 games surprisingly, but still, he always seemed to be injured, and I believe was the main reason Chelsea sold him, because they knew they would be without him for large chunks of the season.

So who has Madrid been linked with?  Well in less you live under a rock, they have been targeting Cristiano Ronaldo for the past two years, and I doubt this summer will be any different.  Like him or hate him, he is world class, and I don't feel it is necessary to go on about how Madrid would benefit from his services.  The other three wide midfielders that Madrid has been linked with so far are Ribery, Valencia, and Silva.  Ribery is an awesome player, and I think it is either going to be Ronaldo or Ribery with the addition of Kaka, but not both, even Madrid can't afford that.  I wouldn't even be surprised if Bayern and Real did a swap plus cash move with Robben going to Germany, and Ribery joining Madrid.

Valencia, I believe is more of a rumor made up by someone like his agent to create a market for the player.  I do believe he will leave Wigan, but I don't see him getting much playing time at Madrid.  Silva is a player who will be sold mainly because Valencia is in need of cash, and he is their next most valuable asset.  For some reason I just don't see Silva playing for Madrid next year, I can't give an explanation why, but it just doesn't make sense to me.

Now we move on to the defense of the team, basically the whole reason I started writing this article in the first place.  The whole issue with Florentino Perez, was he sacrificed a player like Makelele who did all the dirty work, which allowed players like Zidane, Guti, and Figo to operate with so much freedom, and do what they did best.  Will Perez make the same mistake again, and focus on the offense while disregarding the defense?

To start Real Madrid have two very capable defensive holding midfielders in Mahamdou Diarra, and Lassana Diarra.  Mahamdou was out injured most of the season, so Madrid purchased Lassana in January.  Lassana is still a work in progress, but I think he is an excellent defensive midfielder, and some one to build a team with.  So as long as Perez realizes there value to the team, they should be all set there.

Now the backline is a very interesting in my opinion, because on paper it looks very good, but then you get games like the 6-2 thumping at the hands at the Bernabeu no less, and you realize maybe they have some work to do.  The first problem is the fact that they have one of the best goalkeepers in the world.  Ok that really isn't a problem, but what it does is mask the frailty of their backline, so when you have Saint Iker in goal and you just look at stats, and names the backline doesn't seem so bad.

First lets list the main players in the defense starting with the central defense, and then with the flanks.  There is Cannavaro, Pepe, Garay, Metzelder, and also Miguel Torres Gomez, who can play in the middle or the side.  On the sides there is Sergio Ramos, Heinze, Marcelo, and Salgado,

So where to start, Cannavaro is getting old, and will probably return to Juventus in the summer,  Garay is a relatively untested 22 year old, and I think Metzelder is just too slow for my liking.  Which leaves Pepe, who will be out X amount of games next season for his recent freak out against Getafe in April.  He is a very good defender, but it seems to be he gets a lot of careless cards, and in that respect could be a liability, bear in mind I felt this way before he imploded against Getafe.  So it is apparent the middle needs some work, but I have as of yet not heard any names linked joining them this summer, they should target Daniel Agger.

On the flanks you have Sergio Ramos who is great at getting up that right side, and put great service in, as well as score on set pieces, but appears to have forgotten how to play good defense, as evidenced by his display against Barcelona.  Salgado has been a great servant to Madrid, but he is now 33, and is not getting any younger, or faster.  I don't have much information on Marcelo, other than he seemed good at getting up the left side, and also complaining to the ref a lot.  Heinze is another player who is starting to get old, and I feel can be a liability, he also isn't great at getting forward.  The last player is Miguel Torres, who I admittedly do not know much about, but seems like a decent defender who is also versatile.

So there you have it, for Florentino Perez to be successful, he needs to focus on building a balanced side.  A central defender would be a smart buy this season, as well as recommitting too the academy, although I doubt that will happen as Real Madrid is a very short sighted club, and academy players can take anywhere from four to ten years to develop, but it is much cheaper and in the long run it helps build a much more solid, and balanced team.