Madrid - A veritable storm has broken out in Spain about Real Madrid planned signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a world record fee of 96 million euros (134.77 million dollars). Several sections of the media have criticized the signing because it comes in the midst of the worst economic crisis for almost 30 years, other sections have expressed doubt as to whether Real can recuperate their investment.Real president Florentino Perez has raised eyebrows across the globe by spending at least 65 million euros on Brazilian attacking midfielder Kaka and now about to splash out even bigger on Ronaldo for what would be more than 160 million euros in total for the two.The expected signing of Ronaldo was front-page news in every single Spanish newspaper on Friday.Prestigious Madrid paper El Pais bluntly questioned the morality of the deal "during this crisis."Barcelona paper La Vanguardia went further, indignantly pointing out that the 96 million euros could have instead been spent - in a country suffering from a housing shortage - on building 900 apartments of 80 square metres each.Not surprisingly, the Catalan media was most critical with Perez' profligacy, with Catalan language channel TV-3 on Thursday night naming the expected deal "an obscenity, in these difficult times."Spain has been hit hard by the global recession, and unemployment has risen above 17 per cent, meaning that almost four million people are out of work.Barcelona president Joan Laporta was quoted widely as saying "Real Madrid have an emergency that we do not have."He referred to the fact that Barca pulled off an historic title treble (Spanish league amd cup, European Champions League) in the past season while Real need to rebuild their team.The Catalan newspapers also quoted Xavier Martin i Sala, Barca's financial director, as saying "I really don't know where they (Real) get the money from. He (Perez) says he will recuperate it from shirt sales, but that would require 30 million sales, which is impossible."Sala i Martin wondered "how is it possible that a football club can get this kind of money, given the economic situation and the credit restrictions imposed by the banks?"Financial newspaper Cinco Dias said that Real's challenge "is to make the signing profitable," and issued the warning that the club "has taken a big gamble."Even Madrid sports papers AS and Marca were critical of the signing, even though their circulation figures will certainly improve because of Perez' spending spree.Alfredo Relano, the influential editor of AS, commented that "Florentino (Perez) has given hope to many fans but scandalized many others. It looks like an obscene act during a crisis. When so many companies are closing and so many people are on the street, spending so much money on two footballers looks terrible."AS said that Perez is planning to spend well over 200 million euros this summer. His next target is Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa. He is also interested in Villa's Valencia team-mates David Silva and Raul Albiol, as well as Xabi Alonso of Liverpool and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich.An online poll in AS - in which 141,891 votes had been cast by Friday morning - showed that many Real fans have doubts about the Ronaldo deal. They were asked whether the purchase is good for the club - and 55 per cent have voted "no."AS also quoted European football boss Michel Platini as saying that "I am surprised at this transfer, during such financial challenges...It brings up the questions of fair financial play and of balance in our competitions."Marca, which is close to Perez, tried to be more optimistic about what it called "the Transfer of the Century."Even so, an online poll in Marca shows that 73 per cent of readers think the transfer fee too high. And Marca quotes Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro - who has just returned to Juventus after three years in Madrid - as saying that "Cristiano and Kaka will not resolve Real's problems on the field."
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