Real Madrid's success papered over their spiralling costs – now the party is over it is clear for all to see 

That Madrid have sustained the myth that they are the natural final destination for every great player is as remarkable as anything else they have achieved in the last five years. To recap what this column has long reported, their last financial reports were published on the final day of June, 24 hours before they pay their bi-annual wage bill which was, in the most recent accounts, €207 million for the half year. At a stroke that wiped out the €190 million cash reserves that had been framed in some quarters as the transfer budget for the following year.

To meet the shortfall ten days later the club sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus, with an up-front payment of €50 million that meant for this year they may not have been obliged to borrow to cover their existing wage bill. With the fee booked and Ronaldo’s previous salary commitments to 2021 divested, the club avoided projecting a €87 million loss that even Perez would have struggled to explain to the membership.

Ronaldo’s direct replacement, the Dominican Republic international Mariano, who returned to the club from Lyon, has scored just one Champions League goal this season. Thibaut Courtois was signed in return for Chelsea being waived their second payment on the striker Alvaro Morata, whom Madrid had sold them in the summer of 2017 in order to claw back accounting losses in that final year. One year later, Ronaldo, the greatest goalscorer in Madrid’s history was sold to do the same, and only now is the failure to adequately replace him being felt eight months later.

When the list of players in whom Madrid would be interested is inevitably drawn up, the question is never the most fundamental: what are they to sign them with? Madrid’s public accounts reveal they simply do not have the cash for the huge up-front payment for Harry Kane or, even more implausible, Kylian Mbappe. Even Eden Hazard, whose contract situation makes him a more realistic target, would have to be a buy now, pay later. Chelsea’s director Marina Granovskaia may well ask why she would want to risk facing Madrid in the Champions League next season, with her club’s current best player on the opposing side, for little immediate financial gain.

There is the enduring belief that somehow, the Spanish state will bail out Madrid. The reality is that whatever Perez’s allies in Spain’s Popular Party might have liked, the development of the Bernabeu has been made much more difficult by the election of left-wing city councils who are not so amenable to the club’s expansionist ambitions. The outcome of local elections in May will be critical. Even the man who controls ACS, Spain’s biggest construction company, has not been able to push through a Bernabeu redevelopment first proposed in 2011. 

At the club’s previous assembly in July, Perez was given the mandate to borrow €575 million to redevelop the Bernabeu, a project that will add a shopping centre but not a single extra standard seat. Still no news, eight months on, as to where the money is coming from, but strong suggestions that now banks in the United States have been approached rather than the once pliable Spanish banks.

With two Barcelona defeats in four days accounting for the club’s cup and league hopes, and then the Ajax comeback, Perez needs a distraction more than ever. Yet everything the club has done recently has been aimed at saving money, from the disastrously-timed appointment of the cut-price Spain manager Julen Lopetegui, to his hapless cut-price successor Santiago Solari. Last June, the club forecast a slight fall in its wage bill which has been bloated by Champions League win bonuses, but shortly after that gave a big new contract to Luka Modric.

There were chants calling for Perez’s resignation on Tuesday night, and there is low-level opposition to the 71-year-old but given his rewriting of club statutes that require any candidate to have a bank guarantee of almost €100 million, meaningful change is difficult. This is a great squad of players now clearly past their best with big contracts that mean they have little sell-on value. There is no cash to make changes. Any presidential successor would have all the problems and none of the trophies.

All great teams must fall, but some fall harder than others. The Madrid side of this decade could be hard to love but they were a great European team: patient, ruthless and at their best on the big occasion. While they were successful, there was an easy distraction from what they cost. Now the party is over, and the price looks extraordinary.

Berahino sinks to new low

Saido Berahino’s appearance at Highbury Corner magistrates on Wednesday morning where he pleaded not guilty to being three-times over the drink-drive limit began with him addressing reporters and photographers as he arrived.

The effing and jeffing was one thing, the customised Mercedes parked illegally, immediately issued with a parking ticket, was another. 

Berahino has claimed that he was victim of an attempted robbery which forced him to drive his car a short distance. He will stand trial on May 15. As for his general demeanour, the feeling at Stoke City is that he is long since past caring, and the same could well be said for the world in general.

There are many players who, for different reasons, fail to reach the standards expected of them, but few like Berahino, who are quite so contemptuous of the game in doing so.