Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vatican newspaper questions Real Madrid spending spree

Real Madrid's extravagant spending risks inflating transfer fees and pushing soccer clubs towards bankruptcy or into the hands of organised crime, Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano warned Saturday.

The return of Florentino Perez to the Real presidency sparked a spending spree of some 215 million euros (184.6 million pounds) on Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazil playmaker Kaka, French striker Karim Benzema and defender Raul Albiol so far in the close season.

"It is good to ask oneself whether the figures paid by Real Madrid's president in a period of economic and financial crisis are justifiable from a purely economic viewpoint or whether they are inexplicable even under market laws," read an editorial by Gaetano Vallini.

"It is also necessary to see whether they are compatible with, or destabilising for, the soccer world.

The editorial quoted an OECD report that warned the sport is in danger of being infiltrated by organised crime.

"The risk is that of giving life to an upward (price) spiral in a global economic situation that calls for more sobriety despite the holes in the balance sheets of many clubs, with the increasingly realistic possibility of ending up bankrupt, or in the hands of criminal organizations ready to invest their earnings from illegal activity in football."
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Source (Tiscali)

SV (ED)