Thursday, June 11, 2009
Real Madrid sets record transfer fee
The BBC reports that Manchester United has accepted an offer of £80 m ($131m US) from Real Madrid for the services of Ronaldo. This is on the heels of Kaka moving to Madrid from AC Milan for a reported £56m earlier this week. The combined annual wage bill of Kaka and Ronaldo will top £25m as well. The record spending seems incongruous to me, with the Spanish economy in shambles (the unemployment rate is over 17%, twice the EU average) and one major Spanish club, Valencia on the verge of bankruptcy. Regardless, Next season's clashes with Barcelona in El Clasico should be interesting.
Update: CNN's headline to its report is "Real Madrid defy economic gloom to buy success." There is interesting discussion and speculation on whether they'll receive an immediate return on their investment.
Update: CNN's headline to its report is "Real Madrid defy economic gloom to buy success." There is interesting discussion and speculation on whether they'll receive an immediate return on their investment.
Labels: labor markets, soccer, transfer fees
