The Galactico policy began really when Florentino Perez was elected to Presidency in the Real Madrid boardroom. His election campaign was built on his promises to take an aggressive approach in the transfer market and lucrative deals. On the surface that seems like it can't go wrong but it doesn't take long to realise that there is a big flaw in the Galactico policy. What happens when you throw together some of the worlds best players (and largest ego's) you create one of the biggest let downs in Europe. Every player was thrown into the side with deals reaching up to 46 million, and expected to perform each game and create a side everyone would fear. Whilst some players were named Galacticos and weren't purchased for large sums, like Raul and Roberto Carlos, they still are known as Galacticos due to their hand they had during the era.
It was doomed from the beginning the policy, whilst it seems great to buy the worlds best footballers, not all of them are modest, it leads to splits in the team, and in some cases players were bought more for their marketing potential than their ability on the pitch. Vincente Del Bosque revealed after being sacked that Perez took charge in the transfer market and when Perez would reveal to Del Bosque who he was investing in, most of them were out of form, for instance when David Beckham was bought by Perez he was poorly out of form and hadn't played consistent football since the boot incident with Fergie. Regardless of this he still signed the Englishmen. The best way to describe the problem with the policy though was best described by Steve McManaman, his autobiography describes "The Disneyfication of the Galactico policy was it's downfall, there is no way that you can buy a team full of stars in each position and expect them all to work well with each other, a team needs those smaller players who can do their job well enough that they aren't bad but still don't steal the limelight, otherwise you throw world class players together and it leads to them all being greedy and trying to steal the ball from each other to become the best of the best"
So has there been any success from the Galactico policy, It's hard to tell. The official Galactico era began under Perez's first presidency and was the declared era of the policy running between 2000 to 2006 that is when the players of Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo and Beckham all joined Madrid under Perez's so called Revolution. Was it successful is what we are first answering though, and looking on paper it could be seen that it was quite successful, winning 2 la liga titles and a Champions league title but that is the same as Barcelona won within the same period. Barcelona spent 2,423,500,000 Euros over 6 years which is a massive sum of money to win about the same as Real Madrid, who originally I believed would have spent bucket loads more than their Catalan rivals, however upon research into their season spending sprees but Los Blancos actually spent significantly less than FC Barca reaching the total 1,293,500,000 Euros over the same six year period meant that Financially compared to Blaugrana it was a success by spending less they still one as much as the Barcelona team. However whilst they spent less than Barcelona (and yes I understand Atletico are decent now, at this time the La Liga was only Barcelona and Real so that is why I haven't brought them up) it necessarily meant nothing on the pitch. Whilst they spent less, they still won just as much, they can be seen as a victory but also to some extent as a defeat by looking at what the money was spent on, Barcelona had spent their money not just on current elite players but big potential, so while they may spend 30 million on Javier Saviola, they then would spend on young players like Messi, who is arguably now the best in the world. Real Madrid did not do that, the majority of their Galacticos were in their prime but there was no potential in the squad, when the whole squad would eventually pass their peak, then they wouldn't have the same ability and class of players to come in to replace them. So whilst financially it was a success in comparison to Barcelona, it never came across significantly on the pitch enough.
Before we move on to the main question, we have to look at the official end of the Galacticos or what everyone else declares as the end, 2006, the resignation of Florentino perez and the final Announced Galactico leaving for pastures new, David Beckham joining the LA Galaxy. After Real lost to Mallorca on 27th February 2006 Florentino Perez stepped down from his position as President of the Real Madrid board declaring that "The club needed a new direction and whilst I have no regrets on my policies at the moment, Real Madrid needs a new way forward, but I shall stay involved" which he did, and actually ended up becoming president again, which we will come back to, however Perez's resignation did not mean that the Galacticos era would come to an end. Ramon Calderon, the man who became president after Perez, would sign Ruud Van Nistelrooy after he had felt the full wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson's hair-dryer treatment and also brought in Fabio Cannavaro, the man who captained Italy to the 2006 world cup, from Juventus after being relegated for the match fixing scandal. However they did not receive as much attention as players like Ronaldo and Figo, as well as this, they cannot be regarded as true Galacticos due to the rest of the players leaving for new oppurtunities in some way or another. Players like Higuain, Fernando Gago, Robben and Sneijder were brought in however these players would either struggle to cement a place in the side or worse would have a place in the side but more due to reputation or previous exploits, even leading to Sneijder taking control of his younger brothers supposed move to Real, explaining how they ruined his careers potential. This was the apparent end of the Galacticos glorious tale, and no longer would Real buy elite players for massive money...
Wait, wait, wait! They still do that don't they? I mean Florentino Perez is once again President of Real Madrid, the man who began the Galacticos era, and he has brought in elite players for record fees, so doesn't that mean the Galacticos era is still carrying on. Within Perez's first year back as president of the Real side he brought in Kaka for 60 million Euros, Xabi Alonso for 36 million, Benzema for 30 million and the most important Christiano Ronaldo for the previous world record fee of 96 million euros, more than any of the other Galacticos, these players generally cost more than any of the Galacticos. In 2010 Perez then carries on with his promise of atleast one Galactico each year but Ozil, Di Maria and Khedira for a combined fee of 51 million Euros, 2011 was a slow year for Perez only bringing in Coentrao for 30 million euros (it is rather hard to call 30 million a slow year with a straight face) same with 2012 ONLY spending 33 million on Tottenham Hotspurs croatian playmaker Luka Modric, and of course we now reach full circle Isco and Illarramendi were acquired by Los Blancos for a fee of 59.2 Million for both, but more importantly Welsh Wizard Gareth Bale became the worlds most expensive player but this all together is what I am really trying to make everyone understand, if you ask everyone about the Galactico period they will say the years 2000 to 2006 were the real periods however what I am saying is that it never really ended whilst Perez left, the years without Perez big players were still being acquired along the lines of the Galacticos era, like Robben and Huntelaar, and now with Perez back it has gone into overdrive once more and it is identical to the previous era with how they are aiming specifically towards attacking players and less towards defensive players.
So in conclusion what I am saying is that the Galactico era, or more so policy, never ended when Perez left and instead has now become the basis in how Real Madrid constructs their team and goes about their business ever since 2000. Bale is just another one to be added onto the list of the many expensive elite players. So my whole aim was to hopefully change your opinion on the Galacticos era and realise that it never ended in 2006 and yet instead has become a foundation of the club just like any over part of Real Madrid, will it finally work for them, only the future will tell, we can already see potential new Galacticos with Luis Suarez currently being tipped into signing at the end of the season especially in his current form.
Thanks for reading.
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